


Honey & Bacon.

by ReyDoneGoofed



Series: Fake AH crew AU [4]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grand Theft Auto Setting, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Fake AH Crew, Fluff, Gen, Implied Gavin Free/Michael Jones, M/M, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-11-24 02:35:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 34,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20900228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReyDoneGoofed/pseuds/ReyDoneGoofed
Summary: A mercenary and a sniper walk into a bar... Nah just kidding those two don't drink.Young criminal Ray has many contacts in Los Santos, he felt safe, but that changed once the naive sniper took a job from the wrong Johnson. Unbeknownst to Ray, The Vagabond has some deadly history with the man who hired Ray. Now, suddenly, he's on the run with one of the most notorious murderers the city had ever known and his usual group of ragtag criminals.





	1. Prologue.

**Author's Note:**

> The college life has been kicking my ass so I decided to ignore my course work and take on writing once again. Not that smart, I know, but I need some serious sanity boost! So, hello everyone once again! The Raywood discord server is still up and running so If you would like to join send me a friend request: Rey#7421  
Also, if you'd like to join the server, it might be wise to post a comment letting me know you sent a request, discord likes to not notify me of things!
> 
> Like always, if you have any questions or suggestions feel free to leave me a comment!

Honesty and trust are a hard commodity here in Los Santos, something you won't experience frequently. The city was overwhelmed by visceral evil, lies, daily tragedy. It was to the point where they could watch a man die in the streets and not even bother to call the cops, not that it would do them any good; most were as crooked as the gangers that ruined the city.

The gangs that lived there razed the city to the ground and built upon it anew with an empire of drugs, thievery, murder, and temptation. In the eye of desire, nothing here is wrong. Honesty and trust are rare.

Ray understood this just as much as the next guy; he understood the importance of a little chaos, he understood how honest a bullet to the head of his target is, he understood the trust that the crew placed in him to watch their backs without fear of their own heads popping off with a bang of his signature rifle. What he didn't understand, however, was how he could find brutality calming in the face of danger and mayhem.

Ray knew subtle facts, little things that he never thought would get him anywhere in life, apparently, they got him with a gun just as deadly as it is bright, and a crew just as deadly as they are and aren't bright. At first, it was just him against the world, then he found solace with a pair of thieves who had a pension for explosives and spray paint, theatrics were their thing, then, the triple found two older hardened criminals, the business was their thing. 

They found Geoff Ramsey and Jack Pattillo. 

The lads were obsessed with the criminal masterminds in the same way one would obsess over the actors in their favorite show. They made a crew, they had many members but only the 4 (plus Ray) were so tight-knit. Trust was hard to come by. They were still so small, so unassuming, so underrated. They wanted cred, danger, they craved reputation in a way Geoff's name hasn't quite yet earned. 

"Y'all heard about the Mad King fuck?" Geoff asked as he lazed into the living room.

"Kinky," Ray quickly quipped, "Yeah I've seen him before," he shrugged staring only at the screen which played a kill cam of him eviscerating a player named BMVagabond for the third time in a row.

The cozy living room was darkening as the sun slowly went down, casting shadows over the crew's faces. Gavin sat on a barstool across from Michael at a circular table they stole from a house that they’d broken into, there were still small flecks of blood that had soaked into the woodwork giving the table a look of cherrywood. Michael watched Gavin fondly as the brit stuck his tongue out happily, playing with a deck of cards he’d found under the couch a day or so ago.

"Isn't he like insane?" Gavin asked curiously, looking away from his poorly built card stacked house, cursing and sputtering as Michael blows it down.

"Fuckin asshole," Michael laughed at his friend, "Yeah heard he was a real piece of work," he joked, his loving expression betraying his annoyed demeanor.

"I'm gonna' recruit him," Geoff said confidently.

The crew leader looked around at the various surprised expressions. He looked more like a tired father than a deadly gang leader, with his worn grey sweatpants and his black t-shirt, with cigarette burns on them both; one would never assume if it weren’t for his many tattoos.

"Doesn't he like not do crews? Lone wolf style, what makes you think he'll break that for you?" Ray asked, rolling his eyes at Geoff's assured behavior. 

"Well I'm glad you asked, I'm gonna do the same thing to him that I did with all of B-team," He smiled proudly like he’d come up with the best idea ever.

"You mean: annoy them until they either flee the country or accept your stupid offer? You do realize he's definitely just gonna stab you right?" Ray furrowed his eyebrows taking a glance at the crew leader from his place on the ragged old couch.

"Not me, you, I was thinking you tail him for a while and find out his usual haunts, if you can, so I know how to approach him. He hasn't killed me yet and I've been trying to get in contact with him for over a month now, so I think it's safe," Geoff says disregarding the lads collective sputtering at such a task for the youngest. 

Geoff had a habit of pacing when he was delivering ideas he thought were foolproof, they almost never were.

"Why me? Why not fucking Gavin, or Michael, or Jack?" Ray frowned, cursing lightly as he looked back to the tv just in time to see his character die, the kill cam showing BMVagabond running away from his body, "Shit."

"Gavin would completely out himself and get killed, Michael would get too annoyed and out himself and do the same, and Jack is busy," Geoff shrugged, counting off on his tattooed fingers. 

“Ayo,” Jack yells from the other couch, all the while, scrolling on his phone, a bored expression donning his bearded face.

Jack sat in the only new piece of furniture in the living room, a nice beige armchair.

"If I die, I'm coming back as Ghost Ray and haunting your ass," Ray says shooting Geoff another quick glance before watching the end match results of his game. 

"You're not gonna die, you’re such an overdramatic megalomaniac!" Geoff yells, throwing up his arms in annoyance.

"Do you even know what that word means?" Michael asks gratingly, contrasted with his usual joking smile. 

"It would make more sense for someone to call Geoff a megalomaniac, not Ray, Ray is like the opposite," Gavin says nodding in agreement with Michael, his card house quickly forgotten.

Geoff glares at the pair, "it doesn't matter who here is a Megalomaniac, Ray is doing the job, I'll transfer money to your account once I get some information."

"Yes dad," Ray says with annoyance weaved throughout his voice as he quickly sends a friend request to the strange player.

Ray turned Geoff's Xbox off after logging out of his account. The information wasn't saved to the device. The youngest stood, all eyes on him. He walked briskly to his bag, grabbing his gear before quickly striding through the living room, and making his exit.

Stepping into the chilled night air caused a small shiver to run down Ray's spine, he had a job for another gang to complete before he could help Geoff. Ray quickly made his way across town, dodging several muggings and a few sleazy prostitutes before he reached the target’s apartment complex. It was a seedy building in the heart of Los Santos, a place nobody important would live, surrounded by cheap liquor stores and shady dealerships promising zero down on brand new cars.

Climbing the adjacent building’s rusted fire escape, Ray starts setting up his rifle with his usual quick, but languid speed. The lone sniper laid on the harshly paved rooftop and began lining up his shot towards a figure he could barely make out. He could hear a woman screaming about bills and a man yelling back, a dog was barking, and a baby was crying. Someone, to Ray’s own pleasure, yelled for them all to shut the fuck up. He got distracted.

Shaking his head, and taking long breaths to clear his thoughts, he was just about to pull the trigger when he heard a boot on concrete a few feet behind him. Ray quickly jumped up spinning to aim the rifle at whoever was sneaking up on him, before he could pull the trigger the gun was ripped from his hands and sent skidding across the otherwise barren rooftop.

A fist connected with his face knocking Ray back a step, the sniper was never good at hand to hand. Ray dodged the next hit, a lucky fluke on his part. The young ganger brought his hands up to shove against his assailant only to pause afterward. His eyes widened and a typical ‘Oh shit’ look donned his face once he realized the man barely budged. Ray quickly looked up hoping to get a good image of what his attacker looked like so he could con his friend's gang into helping hunt him down, that is if Ray survived this fight. With each swing, hit, and miss, Ray had been pushed back to the edge of the roof. 

To his unusual horror, Ray recognized the man in front of him. The vagabond, the subject of his next job, “Oh, fuck Geoff, I told him I’d prolly die to you,” Ray let slip in his shocked state. At this point, the two were simply standing there on the edge of the roof staring at each other. The wind blew lightly, the cold air nipping at Ray's exposed cheeks.

“Ramsey put you up to this?” The Vagabonds gruff and slightly muffled voice spoke lowly from the signature mask as he gestured to Ray’s target’s apartment.

“Huh? Oh! No- uh- no, Geoff doesn't know about my jobs, this wasn't him. I mean he did give me a job concerning you, but uh it-it-it wasn't this…” Ray trailed off awkwardly laughing, fear bubbling up in the back of his skull.

He had never feared for his life before, and he still isn't. Not really- no, this fear was for the bad hair-standing feeling he was getting on the back of his neck about this whole situation. Something wasn't right, this target was only supposed to be some random dude his current employer was making an example out of, no way would he have been able to buy off the Vagabond for protection. 

“So, who did? Who’s paying you, who is your target, why?” The Vagabond demanded as he took a step closer to Ray.

Ray, in consequence, taking a step back only to feel his stomach drop at the heel of his foot hanging off the edge of the roof, his heart began pounding, now he was fearing for his life.

“Why would I tell you?” Ray asked trying to get his bearings back. 

“Because I'm holding a gun to your head while you’re hanging off the edge of this roof,” The Vagabond lifts a handgun to point directly at Ray's face, “And because I’ll agree to hear out Ramsey if you do.”

Ray quickly put his hands up after seeing the gun.

“Yeah, that-that could do it. Fuck okay, I really don't know the details, but that apartment right across from here has a guy who screwed up with the guy who hired me and I'm assuming it’s gang-related, I mean, it always is, so I need to take him out for a large sum of cash that I've already gotten half of, he told me to kill him while he was at work, but he apparently quit his job, so I had to find him at home, that's uh- pretty much it. Oh, the targets name is James Wood, I’m supposed to go to the corner of Crusade road and Innocence boulevard in South Los Santos to collect the rest of my pay,” Ray rambled on.

Suddenly the Vagabond grabbed the young sniper, pulling him away from the roof's edge, the infamous killer turned walking briskly to Ray's favorite gun, he held up the rifle, triggering Ray to stop abruptly and stand as still as possible, he tried to calm his breathing and look around himself to find an escape, as Ray was panicking the Vagabond adjusted his grip on the gun and its sight. Ray jumped as the man pulled the trigger, the sound of glass shattering was lost to Ray, his ears were ringing far too much to hear anything other than the initial bang. 

The sound of a dog barking and a baby’s cries could once again be heard.

Ray looked around confused before he realized that the Vagabond had just shot into the apartment and killed Ray’s target. The Vagabond stalked towards him and held out the sniper rifle, Ray was sure his heart rate wouldn't be the same for at least a week.

“Take me to the meetup point,” The Vagabond said with finality to his voice.

Ray looked around, his mouth hanging open with the weight of unsaid words, as he tried his best to put his brain back in order.

“He told me to meet with him the day after this goes on the news or to text him a photo and meet the day after that,” Ray informed.

The killer stalked up to Ray once again and grabbed him by his shirt, “Take- Me- To- The- Meet up- Point,” The Vagabond reiterated, “I'm not gonna repeat myself again,” He said threateningly. 

“Yep, ye-up no problemo’ amigo,” He said clumsily and with horrible pronunciation. The two criminals walked down the fire escape quickly after Ray disassembled his rifle and placed the gun back into his bag.

“Where's your getaway?” The Vagabond asked stiffly as he looked around.

“I uh, I walked here,” Ray shrugged looking anywhere but the Vagabond.

“You've got to be kidding me, how have you survived in this city for this long? Okay fine,” The Vagabonds voice sat with heavy annoyance.

The killer grabbed Ray's arm harshly. The masked killer sternly guided the lone sniper two streets over through alleyways to a souped-up black sleek car that Ray wouldn't be able to tell anyone about. The two get into the vehicle and the Vagabond begins driving to the intersection, Ray had told him about. 

"What's your name?" the older criminal questions.

"Puff the magic dragon," Ray answers automatically, cursing his brain after doing so.

"Kid-"

"Not a kid, I go by Brown-Man for our line of work," Ray answers quickly. 

"Your real name," The Vagabond asks annoyed.

"Kafka, I know- I know, weird right? Yeah well, my mommy didn't love me much, it's actually a family name, but-" 

"Forget I asked."

"It's Ray," He says after a few moments of silence.

The masked criminal parks the car on the side of Innocence boulevard and turns to Ray, "This the spot?" The masked killer asks.

"Uh yep, yeah this is it, I'm supposed to sit on the bench there until he approaches me," Ray shrugs.

"And that doesn't sound shifty to you?" The Vagabond asked.

"I mean, a lot of my employers do that sort of thing so no, not really," Ray's voice takes a slight edge as he rolls his eyes. The lad was feeling incredibly put off by this entire situation. 

"Do you have a hideout in this area?" The Vagabond asks looking around at the various vantage points where a sniper could easily take out whoever was sat on the bench.

"Do you?" Ray asks curiously. 

"Ray," he says sternly.

"Why?" He asked defensively.

"So, we can wait for tomorrow somewhere better than my car, it's not exactly what one would call inconspicuous, Ray," he glares or at least Ray's pretty sure he's being glared at. 

"Oh right, uh, I mean, sure? Yeah, yeah, I have an apartment a few streets over, we could go there," Ray says trying to drain out the annoyance from his bones, pissing off the deadly assassin/ serial killer/ most-dangerous-ganger-in-the-city was most definitely a no-good horrible idea. 

"What's the address," The Vagabond says, heavily bothered by the youngers tone and actions.

"224 Achieve Avenue," Ray sighs.

"That's owned by Geoff Ramsey," he states.

"Yeah," he shrugs.

"I thought you said you weren't part of his-"

"His super-secret boy band? No, I'm not, at least not officially, I've worked with them a couple of times, but I don't do full-time crews, I thought we already had this conversation?" Ray says looking out the window of the car the whole time.

Ray wouldn’t let The Mad King see him act weak, that’s how you get killed, but the need to bite at the hangnail on his right index finger was almost unbearable.

"We did," The Vagabond stated clearly, he was searching for any dishonesty in the lad's words, Ray’s quick wit and unaffected demeanor earned a bit of respect from the masked killer.

The car pulled off, driving towards Ray’s apartment, Ray was just hoping he wouldn't regret trusting The Mad King with his home address. Ray was attempting to decipher the reason as to why The Vagabond needed this information.

"Turn into the parking garage up ahead, the passkey is 800D- hey, don't give me that look, I know you're giving me a look under that mask," Ray accused, shifting in his seat.

"I should've known it would be something as stupid as that," he said with what Ray assumed was amusement… He was trying to be optimistic.

"Welcome to kay-sa del Ray," He announced after the garage door opened.

"That's- Y'know what? I'm not even gonna’ try," The masked killer was steadily getting more and more annoyed with the dumbly charming attitude and humor from the younger criminal.

Ray snorts at the Vagabond's new attitude, "Aw, I'm finally getting through that thick shell and angry facade." He grins sluggishly at the glare he receives, ignoring the warning bells in the back of his head that were telling him to shut the fuck up. 

The Vagabond parks his car in the spot that Ray directs him to and the two criminals step out. Not trying to push his luck, Ray silently leads the other to an elevator. The ride up to Rays floor is emphatically awkward, the joyous low playing music causing the still atmosphere to thicken, Ray was particularly happy once the elevator ride ended. 

"Apartment number?" The Vagabond asked, looking around them with paranoid sky-blue eyes surrounded by black greasepaint.

"487," Ray says as he digs his pockets for his home key.

"Anybody know about this place?" The Vagabond asked noting the many cameras in the hall.

"You mean other than the FAHC guys? No, well I mean a few Roosters know, hey- no- stop giving me looks, I can tell you're giving me another look under that stupid mask. Don't worry, we're completely safe here," Ray rolls his eyes as he unlocks the door.

Opening the door reveals what Ray thought would be his shoddy, yet relatively clean apartment, but what the two criminals got was a tossed searched-through home-invasion catastrophe.

"You were saying?"

Ray could swear he heard the killer's eyebrows raising at him through that sentence.

"What the fuck," Ray says, anger building behind his dark eyes.

His home is trashed, the only place he's ever been able to say he truly felt safe in, is now compromised, which also means Geoff’s building is compromised. 

Ray walked into his home, his eyes darting around to take in the damage. The living room was absolutely destroyed; the couch turned over, his tv smashed, drawers were left open, papers scattered the light tan carpet. The kitchen wasn't fairing much better; drawers opened, everything on the island was thrown off. The worst, however, was his bedroom; the dark covered mattress wasn't even on the box, his desk was destroyed, his computer practically taken apart.

Ray instantly looked towards his closet, his heart pounding, his entire world was turning upside-down, he felt nothing, completely numb. The closet door was caved in, Ray went to open the door and needed to take a steadying breath when it fell off the hinges and banged into the wall. The Vagabond quickly reached forward to steadily set the door onto the floor, before it could slide off the wall and fall again. The clothes that were once semi-neatly hung on the closet bar, were now covering the carpeted floor. Ray quickly leaned down and pried off the false wall panel that sat undisturbed, the only peaceful thing in the chaotic room. 

"Fuck!" Ray slammed the panel down onto the floor finding nothing behind it, just an empty storage space. Breathing heavily, Ray whips around, time slowing for him as he runs into the bathroom, only to find it in similar disarray. Under the porcelain sink was another false wall panel that, just like the other, held nothing behind it.

"Fuck!"

"Ray calm down, hey- hey! look at me, calm down and take a breath, what's missing? What did they get?" The older of the two asked slowly as if speaking to a caged animal.

"Everything! They fucking- they have everything, my money, my guns, my fucking passports, everything!” Ray felt like James Stewart's character John Ferguson in Vertigo, “I feel like I'm gonna be sick, oh fuck," Ray quickly runs over to the toilet, emptying his stomach contents. He was leaning over and beginning to hyperventilate when he felt a warm gloved hand patting circles on his back. 

"Ray, we need to go, we need to go, is there anything here still worth anything to you?"

"No, no, nothing, my fucking Xbox but that looked broken to fucking hell," He says breathily and with a shrug.

"Okay, pack some clothes and let's go, you still have your rifle in my car," the one speaking to Ray wasn't the hardened criminal; The Vagabond, nor the psychopathic killer; The Mad King. It was just Ryan; The Person. Ryan spoke softly to Ray, still petting his back.

"I should call Geoff," Ray said looking back at the carnage that held so many fond memories.

"Then call him," the Vagabond said, he wasn't entirely sure when he started treating Ray like a friend and not a means to an end, but the kid was quick to make Ryan enjoy his company. The few hours they spent together was beginning to feel like a lifetime of friendly banter… The Mad King wasn't a fan of these newfound emotional responses, to say the least.


	2. WHATS BLACK, PINK, AND RED ALL OVER?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Calm down, we knew this would happen eventually,” 
> 
> “Guys! You better get in here, I found somethin’,” 
> 
> “Hey, hey, hey, hey, Michael keep your eyes open. Can you do that for me? C’mon boi you’ve been hurt worse than this before... you got to be fine, please, Michael, please,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> College is stressfuuuuuuuullllllllllllllll.  
Protip, if youre in college and you have a job, don't take more than 3 classes at one time. I take 5 its way too much and life sucks.

“What do you mean your apartment was trashed?” Geoff's voice was loud over the pink phone.

“Someone got passed your security and broke what he didn’t steal, I’m hiding out for a while, so I’ll call you. Oh- and I’m with the Vagabitch I’m pretty sure this is his fault somehow,” Ray says looking over at said Vagabitch, who in turn squinted his eyes through the mask letting Ray know he did not appreciate the new nickname.

“Wait- wait- you're with The Vagabond? As in the Mad King Vagabond or just some random drifter Vagabond?” Geoff asked intelligently, not able to believe that his pseudo crewmate was in direct contact with the killer.

“Yeah uh, we ran into each other when I was on my way to my apartment, it's a long story. Anyway, I gotta go, if you find anything let me know,” Ray said as he promptly hung up the call. You see, Ray here wasn't supposed to be doing any jobs for other crews now, so he figured it wouldn't be too good of an idea to tell Geoff that.

“It sounds like Geoff doesn’t know you're not part of his super-secret boyband,” The Vagabond comments with amusement in his voice. 

“Shut up,” Ray glares at the masked man who throws his hands up and shakes his head.

“Whatever, it’s your life, you fuck it how you want.

“Whose apartment got trashed?” Gavin asked looking over the couch’s edge to survey the gang leader.

“Ray’s,” Geoff stated with a curious sound in his voice.

“What did that idiot get himself into this time?” Jack asked from his position, stood at the entrance to the living room.

“Something bad, he’s with The Vagabond right now. Something doesn’t add up, he lied to me,” Geoff looked ominously toward his fellow crewmates.

“Then somethings really not good,” Gavin agreed, standing up from the couch, “I’ll call Michael, tell ‘im to bring back pizza, it’s gonna be a long night,” Gavin sighed grabbing his phone and doing just as he said.

“This stays between us, I’m not risking B-teams involvement in this, there are already people who don’t agree with having Ray on board,” Geoff admitted solemnly.

Geoff hated having to keep things from certain members of his team, but he could tell something strange was going on, he couldn’t risk it. Geoff walked briskly out of the living room and into the spacious bedroom turned office turned crew planning room. Flipping on the light switch, Geoff took an eraser to the large whiteboard that hung on the far wall, adjacent to the door. The crew leader grabbed a black dry erase marker and wrote on the top portion of the whiteboard: “Ray, suspicious? What we know: Apartment was broken into, with the Vagabond… why?”

Gavin finished with his call to Michael, quickly walked into the small office space that was filled with all the essentials for Gavin to hack almost whatever he wanted in the city. His full tower computer sat tall next to a triple monitor set up, stacks of external hard drives and various disks were scattered along his messy desk. Carefully moving the equipment, Gavin cleared the space and set out to review the footage in Ray’s apartment building and floor.

Jack followed Geoff into the crew's planning room and began placing some calls. The first 30 minutes of him pacing yielded null results, disheartened yet relieved he called an old friend, if Ray was into anything sketchy, he would know.

“Jacky! To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“I need a favor,” Jack sighed sharing a tense look with Geoff.

“Oh? And what is this favor?”

“Adam, could you stop talking like a Disney villain for two seconds? Do you know what Ray Narvaez’s last job was?” Jack asked rubbing his throbbing temples.

“Ray? I’m not too updated on him; do you have something more specific? I mean the kid's been on fire this past month alone he’s taken like 12 extra jobs with varying groups, did you not know that?” Adam responded, going over what he knew.

“Yeah, yeah we knew, but we just need to make sure he’s being safe with these other jobs,” Jack says pointedly, looking over at Geoff with an annoyed look.

“Uh okay, yeah, I’ll call some people and see what I can get.”

“Thanks, call me when you hear something,” Jack says before hanging up.

“That little piece of-“ Geoff was practically bristling with anger.

“Calm down, we knew this would happen eventually,” Jack attempted to calm his friend down, hiding his own anger.

Michael scoffed after hanging up the phone with Gavin, he had told Geoff the minute Ray refused to exclusively be part of the crew that something like this would happen. He just knew Ray couldn’t let things go well for them without fucking it all up at some point. He stepped out of his car, pocketing his phone before walking through the empty gas station parking lot. He needed a cigarette after all this bullshit. Walking around the store and grabbing various chip bags and energy drinks, Michael wasn’t paying any attention to the other two patrons of the gas station. Walking up to the front counter he laid his items out on the table. Michael, however, did notice the trembling in the attendant’s hands as he attempted to scan all of Michaels's items.

“Hey man, you alright?” Michael asked.

He was getting a bad feeling in the back of his head, he came to this gas station frequently, none of the attendants were ever scared of Michael before.

“I-I’m sorry,” the attendant's voice shook, as he refused to make eye contact.

Michael furrowed his brows in confusion, but before he could question why the man was apologizing, he saw a Duck masked man holding a gun behind him in the reflection of a window. Michael quickly tried to move out of the way and draw his gun from the waistband of his faded blue jeans. Michael was too late to avoid the bullet whizzing towards him, the bullet embedding itself into his right shoulder, simultaneously knocking him back a step. Fighting through the pain, Michael successfully drew his pistol and darted behind a nearby shelf to regain his bearings.

“Aw, you’re hiding? How boring, I was promised a fighter, Michael, not some cowardice bitch,” A gruff voice muffled by the duck mask yelled.

“Michael quietly changed cover, spotting the other civvie who knelt down covering her ears, crying. Just some poor woman in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mouthing run Michael loudly ran the opposite direction, hoping the woman made it out okay.

“Guys! You better get in here, I found somethin’,” Gavin called out to the other two.

Geoff and Jack quickly made their way into Gavin’s small office.

“What’s up?” Geoff asked quickly.

“Uhh, this is bloody creepy,” Gavin said gesturing to the screen.

On his main monitor played the security tapes to Rays floor, specifically right in front of his apartment door. A slim female stood wearing a grotesque pig mask, akin to that of Saw, in front of the camera, Gavin played back a time-lapse showing that she stood there slowly tilting her head and swaying side to side for three hours as various black tube masked men and women rand behind her in and out of Rays apartment.

“Okay that is officially the most fucked looking thing ever,” Geoff said with a look of disdain to his face.

“I’ve never seen anyone like this before, have you?” Jack asked looking as his leader and friend.

“No, never, let's hope Ellis gets some sort of information for us,” Geoff said before walking out of the office to make himself a drink.

“Christ x-Ray, what have you gotten yourself into this time,” Gavin asked himself as he chewed on a nail staring at the footage.

Gavin was just about to look through other parts of the building's security footage when his phone began loudly buzzing and ringing with a call from Michael, fondly set as ‘M’ boi’ in Gavin’s phone.

“Boi, you will not believe the weird shite that I got on the cameras at Ray’s,” Gavin started.

“Heh, yeah I uh- I think I have an idea,” Michael grunts from the pain of his wounds.

“You alright boi? What’s wrong?” Gavin immediately stood up and began walking out of his office.

“I need help, get- get Jack and tell him to bring the suture kit, I’ve got a few extra holes in me, I’m at the Xero downtown, the usual one,” Michael said trying his best to sound normal as to not make Gavin panic.

“Jack! Jack! We need to get to the Xero that Michaels always goin’ to, he’s hurt real bad,” Gavin yells after running into the kitchen where Geoff and Jack sat calmly.

“What?” Geoff said almost spitting out his drink before standing up abruptly and grabbing his car keys.

“How bad Gavin, are you on the phone with him now?” Jack asks trying his best to keep Gavin calm.

“Yeah- yeah uh here,” Gavin hands over the phone to Jack.

“Michael, buddy its jack, how you feelin?”

“Like shit, like I just got shot twice while tryna’ buy a pack of cigs,” Michael tries to joke.

“Michael, do you know if the bullets went all the way through or are they still in you? Gavin go grab the emergency kit, it’s under the sink in the bathroom,” Jack asks Michael and orders Gavin.

Gavin all but bolts towards the bathroom almost falling in the process, his adrenaline rising and his brain on high alert. He quickly brought the large emergency kit with him and the three FAHC’s race to Geoff’s van.

“No, no I don’t, I think the one in my shoulder went through, Fuck, yeah- yeah it went through,” Michael grunted.

Michael was leant against the counter on the floor of the gas station, he’d had enough mind to find the small health kit the attendant kept behind the counter. The inside of the Xero looked like a scene from a horror film, three corpses and a lot of blood covered the floor. Michael had tried to save the woman, but the Duck masked man shot her before she could reach the door, he’d then shot the attendant. Two lucky shots. Michael had been able to knock down the masked man before shooting him a few more times than necessary. The lad was pressing the limited amount of gauze against the wound in his stomach. He just hoped the crew would get here before he passed out.

“Michael! Boi! Hey, hey, we’re here- we got you boi,” Gavin’s voice woke Michael out of the feverish pain-induced stupor that he’d found himself in, “Everything’s gonna be okay boi, Jack is gonna make you all better in no time,” Gavin’s voice shook, he felt sick to his stomach seeing his best friend like this.

Michael was laid on the grimy floor of a discount corner store attached to a gas station, this place was filthy, it wasn’t a place that Michael should be laying. He was covered in red bruises that were sure to darken and look a nasty sight in the morning. Michael had a small pool of blood building around him, the gauze having not been enough to soak it up. Michael felt his eyes beginning to close again.

“Gavin keep him awake,” Jack ordered as he set to remove the bullet from Michaels's stomach.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey, Michael keep your eyes open. Can you do that for me? C’mon boi you’ve been hurt worse than this before, you’ve been shot and stabbed and you were always fine, you got to be fine, please, Michael, please,” Gavin placed his hands on either side of Michaels's face hoping the contact would help.

“I think I’m a lil hurt boi, I don’t feel too great,” He smiles at Gavin, knowing he didn’t want Gavin to be upset. Michael hated it when Gavin was upset, he always got all teary and it pissed Michael off to no end to see Gavin cry.

Geoff abruptly stood obviously seething with unbridled fury.

“Geoff, what are you doing?” Jack asked looking over at him.

“Going to find out who the fuck did this and make them pay,” Geoff’s voice was dark.

“No, you’re staying here and helping me fix Michael,” Jack said sternly.

Gavin was steadily rambling at Michael making him respond every few minutes to keep him awake. Eventually, Jack stabilized him enough to move the eldest lad into Geoff’s van, they knew of an underground doctor that would be able to help him more than Jacks's limited medical knowledge. Gavin and Geoff reluctantly stayed behind to document the scene and collect any evidence before the police could.

“Police,” Gavin said suddenly.

“What?” Geoff asked.

“There aren’t any police, none, they should’ve been here by now,” Gavin and Geoff shared a look.

“So, whoever did this had enough cred to dissuade or pay off the cops, great,” Geoff rolled his eyes.

“Look, blokes got a mask like the creepy bird from Ray’s,” Gavin points out before snapping several pictures of the mask.

The two gang members pull off the mask and take pictures of the man beneath it. Geoff searches the guy for anything valuable, handing off the pistol to Gavin. Geoff opened the brown leather wallet he found in the man’s back pocket, looking through, he collets $300 cash, a notecard with a time and address, but no ID. The notecard had a time for three hours ago and the address to the Xero that they were at, on the back was Michael's full name.

“This wasn’t a robbery, Gav, this was a fucking hit,” Geoff said with wide eyes, “Someone’s targeting us.”

“We need to tell Ray, this is bigger than just him getting into somethin’ wonky Geoff,” Gavin said reaching for his cellphone.

Before Gavin could do anything, Geoff’s own phone began to ring, the caller ID showing Adam Ellis.

“Thank god I got through, Jack isn’t picking up his phone man, I’ve been calling for like the past hour,” Adam said loudly.

“Yeah Jacks a bit busy right now,” Geoff said cryptically, “Whatcha’ got for me, Adam.”

“Well that’s the thing, at first nobody was talking, and I mean nobody! Something real weird is going on man, I had to get Joel in on this info search. We had to call like 18 different people before we even got a semi-straight answer form one of Joel’s guys in the desert a big doomsday type fella, man was fuckin’ weird, but I mean he certainly delivered, so here this, apparently there’s some, I can't believe I’m saying this, but a fat cat from the east coast, a total psychopath-“ Geoff cuts off Adams ramble.

“Yeah we know the Mad Kings in town,” Geoff shrugged, “Get to the point Adam.”

“No, no-ho-ho, not the Vagabond, no, this guy makes the Vagabond look like a daycare dad handing out free lollipops. This guy's a crew annihilator, he goes around find crews he thinks are gonna be a problem to him and just decimates them man and get this his whole team are all wearing these disgusting looking hyper-realistic animal masks. There are seven of these fuckers, the main baddie is a guy wearing a cow mask, his right and left hands are a badass chick wearing a sheep mask, and a dude wearing a chicken mask. Next, we have two girls one wearing a pig mask and the other wearing a hamster mask. Then we have a guy with a Duck mask and a guy wearing a Crow or Raven mask, some kind of bird mask, I say it’s a crow, but Joel swears it’s a Raven,” Adam finishes almost out of breath with how much information he just spilled.

“Thanks, Adam, we really owe you one here,” Geoff sighed taking in all the information he’s gathered.

“I’m not done yet man, These guys are the real deal, there are people who fucking think they’re immortal because of the havoc they’ve caused, your boy apparently got himself caught in the middle of all this, word on the street is that the cows got some vendetta against the Vagabond, that’s why they’re in town, to hunt down the Mad King and dethrone his ass. These guys are like unkillable, nobodies fought them and lived to tell about it, it’s some scary shit,” Adam finished.

“Look thanks again for this Adam, I’ll call you later,” Geoff thanks him before hanging up.

“Well they aren’t unkillable or immortal, my boi got this duck man good, nobody’ll come back from that,” Gavin said with a cruel smile to his face.

“Does Michael still keep trash bags in his car?” Geoff asked.

“After the pancake incident last year? Michael keeps bloody Clorox in his trunk. Why?”

Geoff took the keys from Gavin and casually walked out to Michaels's car, opening the trunk and grabbing the bleach and trash bags before waltzing back inside.

“We’re taking the mask, and cleaning Michaels blood,” Geoff stated simply.

“Alright, Vagab-ond, what’s the plan?” Ray quickly fixed the joke he was about to make when he saw the look in the others blue eyes.

“We’re waiting for your employer to contact you,” He stated.

“So, there’s no plan, do you have any idea what you’re doing here?” Ray criticized.

Ray hated being confined, it made him antsy and irritable, he enjoyed the openness of a rooftop.

“Will you shut up?” The masked killer asked annoyed.

“No, not until you fill me in on your plan or am I right and you don’t have one?”

“Ray-“ He started threateningly.

“No, tell me or I’m gonna’ tell every single person who wants you dead where you are right now,” Ray stated.

Before either criminal could do anything, the tense silence was broken by Ray’s phone ringing loudly.

“Geoff?” Ray asked after seeing who was calling.

“Where are you and The Mad King right now?”

Something in Geoff’s voice worried Ray.

“A hotel, why?” He asked now with concern.

“What hotel, me and Gavin are coming to get you… both of you.”

“Uh, I don’t think Mr. angry murder party would be too happy with that,” Ray said glancing at said Mr. angry murder party.

“Tell him The Duck is dead, he’ll understand,” Geoff says cryptically.

“Uh, Geoff said he needs to come to get us both and to tell you that The Duck is dead, he said you’d understand what that means?” Ray was very confused.

Before Ray could even speak again, the phone was ripped from his hand and the Vagabond stood a touch too close for Ray’s liking.

“What are you talking about, you better not be lying to me Ramsey, I swear to god I’ll kill your sniper right now,” He threatens, causing Ray to yell out an expletive.

“I just sent him a picture, look at it, I’m not lying. It now seems like we have a common enemy, Vagabond,” Geoff says coolly, all business to his tone, “Oh and I’m pissed at my sniper right now so I couldn’t care less what you did to him at this moment.”

In the background, Gavin could be heard arguing against that point.

The Mad King opened the photo that Geoff sent him, seeing that Geoff was indeed not lying about the death of The Duck.

“I just sent you our location,” He says to Geoff calmly.

Not even 30 minutes later the two criminals were stepping into One of Geoff’s more obscure vehicles. The drive was in complete silence until they arrived at the FAHC base of operations. A single floored office building turned living quarters for the main FAHC members.

“Where are Michael and Jack?” Ray asks looking around for the other two crew members.

“Michael’s at the doctors, he was shot twice, almost killed,” Gavin informed with a lost look to his face that molded into anger.

Ray had never seen Gavin so pissed before, nor Geoff so stoic.

“What? Who did that? Are we going after them? Wait no that’s a stupid question, when are we going after them?” Ray said quickly.

“Whatever you got into with The Vagabond, the same people who went after your apartment went after my boi,” He spoke with ice in his voice.

Ray felt a pang of hurt and guilt, he knew logically there was no way it was just that last job that set things in motion, but still, the look on Gavin’s face, one of his two closest friends blaming him for his other close friend almost dying? That hurt a lot.

“It’s time for us to share information Vagabond,” Geoff stated.

Ray had never felt so alone before, he’d never felt the need to leave the room when around the crew, he’d always felt welcome and safe.

“Right, his names Andrew Dunham, The Duck, He and his wife, Marilynn, were regular old Bonnie and Clyde bank robbers before Edgar picked them up a few years ago. Marilynn wears a Hamster mask by the way, and she won’t be very happy to find out you killed her husband,” The Vagabond stated.

“Who’s Edgar?” Gavin asked.

“The mastermind behind all this craziness, the one who wears the cow mask.”

“What do they want with you?” Geoff asked, crossing his arms.

“I guess there’s not much harm in telling you now that he’s after us both… I used to be part of Edgar’s crew once upon a time, before the creepy animal heads became a thing, dude was always a psychopath, he thought that I got in the way of his operations so he decided to kill everyone I knew and loved, so I buried him in a hole in the ground with a cement mixer, turns out he somehow survived and started wearing a cow mask. Once I was sure he was alive I’d already made a name for myself as The Mad King, I went a little crazy after my whole family was murdered, so I changed aliases, moved around a bit more, but the Mad King fame wouldn’t leave me behind, If you survive this I’ll be sure to join your little gang, I’ll owe you one,” Vagabond explains.

“Shit, Vagabooty,” Ray says eloquently.

“Call me Ryan, figure it won’t hurt for Y’all to know at least that bit,” He sighs.

“Ryan? That’s so- so normal,” Ray says.

“Yeah, I wasn’t born some crazed killer Y’know, Ray,” He rolls his eyes.

“Alright, who are the others? I know there’s a Pig, that’s who trashed Ray’s place.”

“Christina Cherish, goes by CC, yeah she’s fucking psycho, she was always a little off, she’s all that was left of the old crew besides me and Edgar of course. Then we have Martin Burke who has the Raven mask, he’s just your average gang banger in over his head with Edgar's shit. Allyson Ward was CC’s best friend, she’s like in love with Edgar or something, she has the sheep mask. Finally, we have Timon Ward, Allyson’s brother, he has the Chicken mask,” Ryan informs helpfully.

“One down six to go, and we already have an injured man,” Geoff sighs running a hand through his scraggly beard.

“Yeah, it shouldn’t be too hard, we just need to take down an entire criminal organization and hope we don’t get killed in the meantime,” Ray supplied helpfully.

“How’s your guy? Michael?” Ryan asks.

“Stable, getting better, the bullets didn’t hit anything major, so he’ll be fine, the only issue was the amount of blood that he lost, but we have him set up wit ha guy who owes us a favor so, he’ll be fine,” Geoff assured the room of Michael predicted recovery.

“Good, we’ll need all the help we can get if we’re taking down Edgar and his loony farm,” Ryan nodded, “We should find a safe house, I guarantee this one won’t be safe for long if it ever was, to begin with,” Ryan critiqued.

“Hey-“ Ray started to argue.

“No, he’s right, you saw how easily they got to your flat Ray, we need to move out somewhere obscure,” Gavin cut in.

“You’ll want somewhere secluded, somewhere that you had before you made a name for yourselves,” Ryan nodded.

“What about-“

“No, I know what you’re about to say and no, we fucking hated that place,” Gavin stopped Ray from finishing his sentence.

“No, I think Ray’s on to something here, we haven’t even touched the farm in ages, nobody’s been up there, there are only two roads in and out, its surrounded by a dense forest, it’s over state lines,” Geoff counted off beginning to feel excited about the idea to go back.

“ugh, we’ll have to re set up wifi, do we even know if there’s electricity?”

“I guess we’ll find out when we get there,” Geoff shrugged.

“This is literally awful.”

“Start packing boys, I’ll call Jack and update him on the situation,” Geoff said as he rubbed his hands together ominously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Please leave comments and kudos! I honestly wasn't planning on setting this chapter up this way but my brain wanted angst.
> 
> Also!!! The bad guys are original characters I created solely to be the bad guys in this fic! I didn't wanna villainize any of our babes in this one.


	3. Welcome To Doc Ramsey’s Funny Farm!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What the fuck is wrong with you? Huh? What were you trying to accomplish here? With a- with only a pistol? All by yourself ‘cause little Ray doesn’t play well with others, are you fucking stupid? Or were you trying to get yourself killed? If that was the plan, I can think of a thousand better ways to do it!” Geoff was yelling at a mostly okay Ray, “I-I didn’t mean it like that. I just- look Ray, I get you like to go off by yourself and handle things your own way, I’ve understood that from the beginning, but you could have died,” Geoff rubbed his temples aggravatedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost hit somebody with my car today on my way to college, freaked out and went home. The guy was fine, it would've been my fault but I didn't so everythings fine, I'm just freaking out and pouring my emotions into writing.

“Have I said that I hate this place?” Gavin reminded the crew for the umpteenth time that he was indeed not a fan of the farmhouse, “It remind me of Left for Dead, I feel like we’re gonna be hunted down on spring break, there’s even a lake that fogs over in the morning all creepy like!” Gavin complained.

Well, it’s actually normal for large bodies of water to emit a fog during certain points of the year, it’s because of the temperature difference between the water and the air surrounding it and- what?” Ryan paused his explanation seeing the others staring at him quizzically.

“You’re like, smart,” Ray states intelligently.

“I went to college,” Ryan says, shrugging.

“I’m sorry what? The Vagabond, The Mad King, went to college?” Geoff laughed his usual cackling laugh while he drove.

The roads had long since gone from state paved to country dirt and gravel. The clean air whipping into the car through Gavin’s window, he’d cracked it open to annoy Geoff. As they drove the two of them fought; Gavin would roll the window down, Geoff would put it back up. Ray did his best to ignore the feeling in the pit of his stomach, it felt like his stomach was empty and too full at the same time, the feeling of dread was heavy and sinking as each moment went by. He felt sick with the guilt, it was something he’d never experienced to such an extent before, then again, he’d never been blamed for the almost murder of one of his friends. Part of him was beginning to agree with Gavin more and more as they passed field after barren field on their way to the Farm House.

Ryan watched the interactions between the crew with slight amusement, Geoff and Gavin acted more like family than two hardened criminals about to take down an empire. Ryan began to regret his decision to go with them, he felt like an outsider in the worst of ways. It felt wrong watching the two act like goofballs, all the while Geoff was swerving on the road, batting his hand at the younger. Their laughter was intimate and contagious, it reminded Ryan of the people he lost to Edgar, the family whose lives were cut short because of some maniac. How long had it been since he’d laughed like that, for real? The chuckles ho couldn’t suppress against Ray's initial banter were as close as he’d come to feeling normal again, he knew it was unlikely that he could ever go back to his preconceived notion of normal, but seeing this crew? He figured it couldn’t hurt to try. This train of thought lead Ryan to turn towards Ray, the two sat in the back of Geoff’s 4 door sedan, the grey car was old, worn on the inside, lived in. Ryan felt uncomfortable in the comfortability of the vehicle. Ray was picking at the bed of his nails, occasionally glancing out the window and sighing, Ryan would’ve made a joke about ray acting like a wistful teenager if it weren’t for the crushed look in Ray’s brown eyes.

It was then that Ray took a glance over to The Vagabond only to have his brown eyes met with blue. Testing the waters Ray hoped Ryan hadn’t begun to blame him for his carelessness in the way he dealt with the situation too. He couldn’t have everyone against him, that’s the whole reason he couldn’t be with the crew fulltime, he saw the ruin that shocks a group to its core when they love each other like family, and one creates a rift. Ray had always known it would happen, he wanted it to at least happen on his own terms. A situation he had a handle on, one he knew the outcome to, the crew would eventually distance themselves after getting tired of dealing with his shit and he’d be left alone, just like he was in the beginning. Ray was okay with this, he’d been expecting it the moment he met Gavin and Michael all those years ago, those two were always closer. Gavin and Michael would always have each other, they didn’t need the crew, Geoff would never kick Gavin out, he was practically the man’s son at this point and that meant Michael would always stay, Jack was Geoff’s right hand he was fine, so that left Ray. Ray was always the odd one out, he never had a partner, it was either him by himself or the crew.

Ray and Ryan were still looking at the other having a silent conversation: Are you okay? Yeah, I’m fine, no you’re not, don’t worry about it. Geoff hit a bump in the road causing the two to jolt with the car.

“Whoops, there’s a couple of holes in the road,” Geoff warned a little too late, “It shouldn’t be too long now, we’ll be at the ol’ farm in no time,” Geoff smiled his usual lazy smile into the rearview mirror.

“You said that an hour ago Ramsey,” The Vagabond commented with a roll of his eyes.

Ray smiled a bit at the crinkling of the eyes he could just barely see through the holes in Ryan’s mask.

“Geoff, Jack’s calling,” Gavin said with a worried tone as he put the window back up to answer the call.

“Gavin, before you start freaking out, Michael is fine,” Jack started.

“Oh, thank god,” Gavin said and deflated, the tension draining out of his body as he sinks down in the passenger seat.

“Where are we meeting?” Jack asks quietly.

“The farm,” Gavin responds with heavy annoyance.

“The fa- are you serious?” Jack asked incredulously.

“Yep, make sure nobody follows you, keep my boi safe, we’ll explain everything once you get here,” Gavin states.

“Alright, we’ll meet you all there,” Jack hangs up after they share quick goodbyes.

“Michaels doing well,” Gavin informs the others, a lightness to his voice that wasn’t present before.

“See I told you he’d be fine, its Michael,” Geoff concluded.

“Yeah,” Gavin nods.

Ray slumped in his seat a bit, relieved to hear that Michael was doing well, dodging the glance that Ryan sent his way he went back to brooding out the window. Not too long after, Geoff pulls off the highway onto a side road, onto another sideroad, then onto a third sideroad before pulling off into a long driveway and towards a rusted garage.

“Let’s hope this thing still works,” Geoff says, pulling out an old semi-broken garage door remote.

The gent braced himself and clicked the button the other three members of the carried looked expectantly from the remote to the garage door. Nothing happened.

“Oh, come on, you stupid piece of shit,” Geoff yelled before hitting the remote against the dashboard and clicking the button again.

The garage door squeaked and squealed as it miraculously came to life and began opening before them, the door short of coming open fully, shuttered and came to a stop with just enough space that Geoff could reluctantly drive the small car into the room.

“I never said she wasn’t a fixer upper,” Geoff reasoned when he saw the look the masked man's eyes were projecting onto him.

“Sure Geoff,” He responded.

“Welcome to doc Ramsey’s funny farm, where the building is falling apart at the seams,” Ray commented lowly to Ryan.

“How big is this place Ramsey?” Ryan asked having seen a large house attached to this garage.

“Three floors,” Geoff held up three tattooed fingers after stepping out of the car, “Ground floor has the family room, kitchen, dinning room, laundry room, and a bathroom. The second floor has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and an office with a partition so its two offices. The third floor has two bedrooms and a bathroom,” Geoff said proudly.

Ryan whistles at the extensive home he was stepping into. The cold early morning country air nipped at the four criminals’ skin as they walked into the house. The garage leads into the Family room.

“I’m gonna try to get the heater working, Gavin, go set up your stuff in the office, Ray, give our guest a tour,” Geoff commanded lightly, as he rubbed his hands together.

Gavin, hauling two large duffel bags, stalked passed Ray and through a door.

“Uh okay, so this is the family room, Geoff’s Xbox is in his trunk still but that’ll get set up here, the couch is pretty comfortable so that’s cool. Those doors there lead to the back porch and the lake. Over there’s the bathroom, the door Gavin and Geoff went through leads to the foyer, and the laundry room, which is where the heater is. The foyer has the stairs up to the next floor. Uhm, here’s the kitchen,” Ray gestured around and walked to the door n the other side of the room which lead to a spacious kitchen, “That door there is the dining room, its not that big, but it holds enough of us, we usually use- used to use it as the heisting room. Upstairs,” Ray trailed off, backtracking to the foyer and walking up the hardwood stairs quietly, Ray continues the tour, “That’s the master bedroom, it has its own bathroom, there are the other two rooms, the office, upstairs that’s like a sitting area or something weird like that and those are the two bedrooms with a bathroom between them,” Ray explained.

“Whose room is whose?” Ryan asks.

“Uhh, originally the master bedroom was Geoff’s, the two next to it were Gavin’s and Jack’s, and the two up here were mine and then Michael’s, but I have a feeling its gonna change,” Ray shrugged.

A loud sputtering sound shook the house before warm air began spewing out from the vent above the two criminals.

“Geoff must’ve finally figured out how the furnace works,” Ray observed.

The two made their way downstairs to the dining room made planning room where Geoff was setting up the cork and whiteboard to display all the information, they’ve gathered on Edgar's gang so far, reminding the criminals that there was a reason they were hiding out in this large house. Eventually, the crew hears the tell tail squeal of the garage doors and shares looks of concern with each other.

“Has Jack called any of you?” Geoff asks, removing the pistol from the waistband of his pants to aim at the door.

“No, he hasn’t,” Gavin says.

The four criminals all with their guns poised and ready to take out whoever is coming into their house, rush into the family room to the garage entrance door.

“Woah, Woah, Woah, I’ve already been shot two too many times this week, give a guy a break would ya?” Michael rolls his eyes after spotting the raised weapons, Jack peering into the house behind him.

“Michael?” Gavin immediately lowers his weapon handing it off to Geoff before rushing over to his closest friend, enrapturing the other in a tight hug.

“Ow, ow, ow, c’mon boi, I just got stitches,” Michael winces at the pain in his abdomen.

“Sorry, sorry, Jack you absolute faff why didn’t you tell us it was you?” Gavin looked at Jack expectantly.

“Someone was tracking our phones, so we had to ditch them,” Jack shrugs.

“What?” Geoff asks.

“Yeah, the program Gavin put on them a while ago alerted us,” Jack smiled.

“I told you it would come in handy,” Gavin rounded on Geoff who shrugged.

Ray has slinked out of the room to bring the few belongings he had left into his room on the top floor. He didn’t want his presence to break the happy feeling in the room. Ryan had watched the lad sneak out of the room but was quickly captured in a conversation with the two members he had yet to meet.

“So, you’re the big bad? He don’t look so tough, I could take ‘im,” Michael says gesturing to Ryan, one hand over his stitched wound, the other pointing with his thumb to The Vagabond.

“Michael,” Gavin rolled his eyes.

“And you’re the one who killed a member of Edgar's crew while managing to stay alive, I respect that,” Ryan announced holding out a leather-gloved hand towards the injured crew member.

Michael grabbed his hand in a firm handshake that broke some sort of tension in the room.

“Whose Edgar?” Michael asks.

“C’mon buddy, we’ll fill you in,” Geoff brings a hand to Michaels's shoulder guiding him and Jack into the dining room to go over the gritty details that they’d learned in their short time away from each other.

After the tense hour of explaining to Michael and Jack the whole ordeal with Edgar, the crew now sits in silence all digesting the information. Ray had slunk back down and listened in from the doorway.

“But, why a fucking cow mask? Of all things,” Michael shakes his head at the creepiness of the masks.

The crew had found several security camera shots of each member of Edgar's crew, Edgar himself included. It seemed like the animal mask donning crew hadn’t even tried to cover their tracks from city to city.

“We were on a dairy farm in Georgia when I shoved him in the ground and turned on the cementer,” Ryan shrugged.

“Blokes prolly disfigured to all hell cause of Ry-bread here,” Gavin announced.

“I’m ignoring that,” Ryan says referring to the abhorred nickname, “Yeah, from what I’ve heard his face got the worst of it.”

Ryan was stood off to the side of the table with one arm crossed, the other propped up to fiddle with the itchy mask. Geoff stood next to the two boards in the front of the room, Gavin, Jack, and Michael sat at the table. Ray hadn’t moved from his spot in the doorway.

“So, what’s the room situation?” Ray speaks up from his secluded spot away from the others.

“Me and boi will room together,” Gavin says immediately.

“Alright, those two will get the master, it’ll be better for Michael with his injuries anyway. Ryan can have Michael’s old room next to yours Ray, I’ll take Gavin’s old room and Jack will stay in his,” Geoff decided quickly.

“Aw sweet, I should get shot more often if it means I get the big rooms,” Michael jokes.

Gavin glares at Michael, the joke not settling well in his stomach. Ray nods and turns to go back up to his room, Ryan following.

“Gavin, make sure Michael doesn’t rip any stitches going up those stairs, make sure to start searching for any leads afterward, I need to make a few phone calls,” Geoff orders before walking off.

“Hey, are you alright? You’ve been quiet since we contacted your crew,” The Vagabond asks softly before they could go up the stairs.

“You don’t know me Ry, I’m usually like this when I’m not hanging off the edge of a roof with a gun in my face,” He shrugs and marches past him up the stairs.

Ryan watches him go up and sighs, wondering what he can do to rectify the situation.

“It’s not you, he’s always been this moody,” Jack's voice rings Ryan out of his head.

“He wasn’t before we got in contact with you guys,” Ryan challenged.

“Then he must really like you for some reason, he’s a big lone wolf, always getting into something he can’t get out of by himself, this isn’t abnormal for him,” Jack informs.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about,” Ryan mumbles turning back towards the stairs for a moment.

Later that night; Gavin was with Michael watching some dumb sappy romance film in their room. Jack was in the bathroom trimming his beard, humming a song that played on the radio at least six times during the drive up to the farmhouse. Geoff was crashed out on the couch downstairs having binged reruns of a show he’d seen a thousand times before. Ryan was cleaning his guns in his room. And Ray? Ray was getting himself into some shit he wasn’t confident he could get himself out of. Slowly stepping down the stairs, careful not to make any noise, Ray made his way into the family room, past the sleeping Geoff and out on the back porch. He walked quickly out onto the fishing pier that was somehow not rotten yet. He made a call.

“Hello,” A gruff voice answered the line.

“Hey, it’s me, I got your guy, it’s been on the news now,” Ray responds, speaking quietly even though he knows no one can hear him.

“Meet me at a warehouse in Grapeseed, I’ll send you the time and address,” The man over the phone spoke succinctly.

“Have my cash ready,” Ray responded coolly.

_ ‘12 Catfish road, Grapeseed coast. 6 Am’ _

Taking a deep breath Ray checked the time and walked back inside.

“What’re you doin’?” A sleepy Geoff asked stretching and sitting up.

“I’m gonna hit up a grocery store and get us some food, I’m taking your car, I won’t be long,” ray said quietly grabbing the keys from the coffee table next to the couch.

“Grab some Funyuns while you’re there,” Geoff yawns.

“Wil do,” Ray walks into the garage, thankful that the garage door was left open.

The youngest got into Geoff’s car, his heart beginning to race as he slowly turned the key. Every creek, cricket, and sound he could hear made the lad flinch, hoping he wouldn’t be caught. He needed to make things right, he needed to repair the rift that was created between him and the rest of the crew, the other lads especially. Pulling out of the garage and down the driveway, Ray felt a pang of regret for lying to Geoff again, he really needs to stop doing that, but this time it was necessary. The drive into Grapeseed was a slow venture, Ray’s nerves firing off at random. Driving down the long dirt road he passes a sign titling the strip of gravel as Catfish Road. Ray could smell the salt in the air as he approached the warehouse on the dirt beach. It was 30 minutes to 6 in the morning.

The dark starry night slowly transfixing itself into a lighter vacant sky. Before stepping out of the vehicle, Ray took a deep breath and opened the glovebox, acquiring Geoff’s backup pistol he always kept for safekeeping. Ray was just hoping everything would go smoothly. The lad, consumed by guilt, made his way towards the warehouse, he came upon a rusted blue door and tried it, unlocked. Walking in, he tried to ignore the bead of sweat that was dripping down the side of his face.

“Ray Narvaez Jr. What a surprise, what a surprise indeed. Did you come alone? Not very smart of you,” A female voice quipped and tusked at the lone sniper.

A woman in a pig mask stood in the center of the warehouse surrounded by 12 black mask-wearing individuals, all with guns aimed directly at Ray. The warehouse was void of cover save a few crates of unknown goods sprinkled about the building. Ray felt a thickness in his throat, and he felt his resolve begin to crumble, how can he get himself out of this one. He was stupid for thinking it wouldn’t be a trap.

“Y’know, the big man was very upset with your little team up with that piece of trash Vagabond, no, no, he was not very happy indeed, I said we should just go ahead and execute you on the spot, but the boss wants to use you in other ways, ooh that sounds dirty,” She giggles atrociously.

Ray gives the woman a disgusted look as he takes a step back towards the door he came in through.

“Raaaaaaaayyyyy~ Don’t you know it’s not that easy to get away from Edgar? Once he has his sights on you,” She brings her arms up to mimic holding a rifle, “He always hits his mark,” She says mimicking the gun going off, making a ‘booh’ sound as the imaginary bullet penetrates Rays head in her mind, “And splat,” She sighs audibly.

“Yeah I’m sure he’s very good at being a creepy ass motherfucker, but I’ve got other shit to do, Funyuns to acquire, the usual, so I’ll just be on my way now,” Ray says.

He couldn’t believe this is gonna be how he ends, by firing squad with a pig commander. What a joke. Ray began to brace himself instinctively as he watched the masked mercenaries collectively take proper aim.

Bang!

Except that wasn’t from a gun, no this was the sound of a truck slamming through the rusted thin metal walls of the warehouse and crash into several of the armed men. Utilizing the distraction, Ray dashed over behind a crate, pulling out Geoff’s pistol and flipping off the safety. Guns were going off everywhere, when Ray spotted the pig masked bitch running away from the fight, running after her with reckless abandon, Ray aimed his gun and shot. Ray missed. He missed the only shot he had, a whirlwind of self-doubt and guilt rocked him as he stood frozen to the core, gun still aimed. He watched almost in slow motion as a bullet whizzed past him and into her, knocking her down. He swapped his aim, but before he could shoot her again, he was tackled to the ground, leather gloves pulling him behind a cover. He watched as Ryan took aim and shot directly into the pig mask. Ray turned and watched as the crew fought their way to victory, all without needing him. This was just confirmation to him, his judgment cloudy with even more guilt being poured over him. Almost like a movie scene, Ray realized Ryan was yelling his name, shaking his head he tried his best to focus on Ryan’s voice above the loud sounds of guns.

“-ay? Ray? Ray!”

“Wha-t? What?” Ray took a shaky breath and looked up at the masked man.

Something was wrong, he felt numb, everything felt fuzzy. He’d never experienced something like this before.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Ryan asked.

Ryan set his gun down and placed his hands over Rays frame, gliding the gloved fingers over every nonvisible portion of Ray's body.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking your stupid ass for injuries, Christ Ray,” Ryan’s voice was sharp and filled with what Ray placed as anger but was simple worry.

Ray hadn’t realized yet, but the sound of gunfire had ceased, the crew raining victorious, all baddies eliminated.

“Vagabond! Do you have BrownMan?” Geoff yelled looking around for the two.

“Yeah right over here, I think he’s in a bit of shock, he was shot in the leg, but the bullet went through, I don’t think he can even feel it right now,” Ryan responded with a succinct analytical viewpoint.

“I was shot?” Ray asked dumbly as he looked down at where Ryan’s hands had stopped.

“More of a graze really, you’re gonna be fine. Why the fuck- no, you’re in shock, we can have this conversation later on when we get back to the house,” Ryan was bursting with anger, anger that Ray could have gotten killed and none of the crew would have known.

If it weren’t for the program Gavin had on all the crew’s phones, they would have never found him in time.

“We need to get him out of here, is it safe to move him?” Geoff asked looking around the warehouse.

Gavin had grabbed the pig mask off CC and stuffed it into the garbage bag with the other one, he then went on to take pictures of the scene.

“Yeah he’s coherent enough, it should be fine,” Jack said after checking Ray over with Ryan.

“He’s shivering but he doesn’t feel cold,” Ryan observed.

Ray couldn’t tell anyone when Ryan took off his glove to save his life, or why the crew was so quiet but so loud at other points.

“We need to get him back to the house, let's go. Once he snaps out of this, I’m gonna shove my fucking foot down his throat for doing this,” Geoff said, worry dripping from his tone and betraying his harsh words.

Ryan and Jack help Ray up and to the truck, the crew had requisitioned for the purpose of slamming through that wall. Ryan kept Ray tucked under his arm, knowing contact would help bring him back to his normal self. Jack kept the pressure on his leg, he wasn’t bleeding very fast, his physical wound not being all too concerning.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Huh? What were you trying to accomplish here? With a- with only a pistol? All by yourself ‘cause little Ray doesn’t play well with others, are you fucking stupid? Or were you trying to get yourself killed? If that was the plan, I can think of a thousand better ways to do it!” Geoff was yelling at a mostly okay Ray, “I-I didn’t mean it like that. I just- look Ray, I get you like to go off by yourself and handle things your own way, I’ve understood that from the beginning, but you could have died,” Geoff rubbed his temples aggravatedly.

The entire crew was sitting at the dining room table all looking at Ray, it was unnerving being stared at. He couldn’t stand to meet anyone’s eyes.

“I know,” he said simply, not wanting to say the wrong thing and set everybody off again.

“You know? Then why did you do it? Why did you go after that psycho bitch on your own?” Geoff yelled, pacing.

“Because I was trying to make things right, okay!? I figured if I could just get to someone on Edgar's end you guys would stop treating me like I shot the family dog! If I had just warned you guys about the whole Vagabond situation and me taking on other jobs, Michael wouldn’t have almost died, and don’t give me that fucking look, okay? You all blamed me after that, Gavin could barely look in my direction without blowing a goddamn gasket. Geoff, you were practically ignoring my existence, handing me off to someone else whenever you got the chance, Jack hasn’t even spoken to me since! I just wanted to fix it. I wanted my friends back, but I guess I never fucking had them if you all really thought I was off by myself all the time because I wanted to be. This type of shit ruins crews, people get too close, one of them gets booted out and then suddenly, the whole crew falls apart. I knew I’d be the one getting sacked so I took it in my own hands to exit the situation before it got to that point so you all could be happy in your little family. Michael getting attacked while on a gas run has been on my mind this entire time, Okay?” Rays voice cracked at the end, his vocal cords weren’t used to yelling so loud.

Ray had by now jumped out of his chair and pointed at everybody accusingly as he spoke. Guilt-ridden faces full of shock is what Ray was met with.

“You happy now?” Ray asked before promptly exiting the room.

He needed a smoke, Ray had left the crew sitting, flabbergasted by the information the youngest had dropped on them. Running up the stairs and skipping steps as he goes, he ignored the sharp pains that went through his leg every time he took a pounding step. The youngest beelined into his room failing to find cigarettes he opted for his rifle, he needed to fix his shot anyway. Ray rushed back down the stairs blinking away a stray tear from the pain and waltzed outside. The harsh wind was a sharp contrast to the still dead air inside the house, the difference was widely welcomed by the young sniper. He stomped out onto the pier and harshly laid himself down on the moist wood.

Ray stayed outside taking potshots at trees across the lake for an hour missing every shot he took. The familiar sound of heavy feet on wood could be heard behind the sniper. He didn’t care at this point, he knew it was one of the crew.

“Ryan, I’m not in the mood for your fucking philosophy right now,” Ray said through gritted teeth.

“Huh, what about mine?”

Ray whipped around seeing Michael standing over him blowing out a cloud of smoke from the cigarette in his hand. Ray eyed the stick before laying down his rifle and sitting up. Michael smiled and handed over the stick after taking a short drag. Ray nodded and took it from his old friend, taking a long drag before blowing out the smoke onto the top of the water underneath them.

“Thanks,” Ray said quietly before handing the cigarette back over to the redhead.

“You know I don’t blame you for this right?” Michael asked, a seriousness that shouldn’t be, hung in his voice like a damp cloth.

“Why, the others do,” Ray snorts, crossing his legs and looking away from Michael.

“Well, the others are being stubborn pieces of shit, you know that. Besides, Vagabitch doesn’t blame you for shit, you shoulda’ seen ‘im when we all realized you didn’t actually go to the store, he flipped out on Geoff for even letting you leave,” Michael smiled down at ray.

“If I had just gotten over myself and told Geoff, they could have warned you and-“

“And what? I could magically foresee that they had been tracking us since before you even took that job? That I was about to get attacked going in for some chips? Ray, you’re not all-knowing, you didn’t know what was going on if we go with your logic that means Ryan’s at even more fault than you,” Michael says cutting Ray off.

“No Ryan didn’t do anything wrong,” Ray shook his head, feeling the stress of not knowing how Michael felt slowly ease off of him.

“How? He knew everything and the bitch didn’t say shit, the others aren’t blaming him for this, are they? No, so obviously whatever you’re thinking is wrong, nobody blames you for me getting shot. They’re pissed that you went behind their backs to take more jobs and almost got seriously hurt in the process, just like today. Ray, you’re our friend, none of us do jobs alone, its how we make sure everyone’s okay. You by yourself, something could happen and none of us would have any idea, it scares us man,” Michael argues unapologetically.

“Oh,” Ray says, blinking owlishly.

“Yeah, oh, dipshit. Come back inside when you’re done being an angsty teenager, Geoff’s making apology food, so you know it's gonna be good,” Michael smiles his usual lopsided smile.

Ray watched the other limp off of the pier, through the gravel path, and onto the porch back into the house. He turns brings a leg up to rest the rifle on his knee before lining up his shot, adjusting for wind and then pulling the trigger. He hit dead on.

Ray stepped into the kitchen where the rest of the crew was standing around waiting for Geoff to finish cooking, they all looked over at him, varying looks of guilt almost made Ray turn tail right then and there and dip as fast as he could, but Michael waltzed over like nothing was wrong and smacked Rays shoulder.

“C’mon, foods almost done,” He smiled and turned looking pointedly at the others.

Gavin took a small step forward, looking at Ray with determined eyes.

“I never blamed you for Michael you dingus, I was absolutely livid that you did your thing and didn’t tell us everything immediately. I know it wasn’t your fault, you smegpie. You seriously need to stop going off by yourself, this time we were lucky for Ry-bread here getting a bad feeling and demanding to know where you had gone,” Gavin said gesturing over to an embarrassed Ryan, who gave a small wave.

“Sorry, I’ll try not to pull a me next time,” Ray says quietly, fighting the smile that was rising to his face.

Gavin rushed forward and hugged his friend.

“And if you ever think that I’m seriously mad at you like that, you must not know me all too well,” He declared.

“Alright you saps, foods done,” Geoff said but his words were betrayed by the slight sniffle he gave afterward.

The crew, together again sat around the dining table, eating and making fun.

“Alright, alright, a toast! Here’s to the death of a pig!” Geoff announced holding his glass up.

“Here, here bitches,” Michael followed suit.

The rest of the crew chimed in: “Here, here!”

The morning was followed by ruckus laughter, play fighting and a lot of videogames.

Back in his room, Ray was getting ready to crash having been awake for two straight days, when he heard a knock on his door, the lad stood and opened the door surprised to find The Vagabond, except without his mask. The man, however, wore greasepaint that successfully hid most of his features in the dim lighting.

“Hey, what’s up creep master?” Ray joked, feeling lighter than he had in years.

“Today was eventful,” Ryan sighed, running a hand through his hair that was pulled into a ponytail.

“Yeah, heard some guy almost got himself killed doing something stupid, weird right? Definitely doesn’t sound like anyone I know, oh but the real kicker is that another guy got suuuuper worried about him and saved his life,” Ray smiled.

“Yeah, no, I can’t pinpoint who those two are either, psh,” Ryan smiled back.

“You’re basically accepted as part of the family now man, there’s no getting rid of us now, you really shouldn’t have saved me if you were looking to get out of being a part of the crew,” Ray joked more.

“Well, that all depends… Are you gonna go fulltime crew?”

“Uh, Y-yeah, yeah, I think I am,” Ray nods awkwardly, not knowing what to do with these emotions.

“In that case, it’s a good thing I already told Geoff that I accepted his offer,” Ryan dropped innocently.

“No, shit, so you’re officially a branded FAHC member, wow, never thought I’d see the original lone wolf himself, break his commitment issues and settle down,” Ray quipped.

“Ditto, what does FAHC even stand for?” Ryan smiled again.

“Fake Achievement Hunter Crew, it’s a dumb name we came up with while playing videogames,” Ray shrugged.

“I should’ve known, final question, what the hell did Geoff make you? He made you a different meal from everyone else’s,” Ryan observed.

“Oh yeah, I’m weird and like my favorite thing to eat when I was younger was, now don’t make fun of me for this man I’m being serious here,” Ray threatened jokingly.

“Okay, okay, I won’t judge you,” Ryan fondly rolled his eyes.

“It’s Honey and Bacon,” Ray stated.

“Honey and- what the fuck is wrong with you?” Ryan laughed.

“Hey no! I said no judging!” Ray laughed pointing at him aggressively.

I’m not, I’m not, I’m just saying, that’s the weirdest shit I’ve ever heard of, and I’m from the south, we have a lot of gross combinations that shouldn’t exist,” Ryan smiles widely showing off his perfect teeth.

“Yeah, so that was Geoff’s way of telling me to stop being an idiot and that he’s sorry for making me feel like how I was feeling, Ray, smiled a bit sadder now.

“Hey, everything’s fine now, all we have to do is take out four of Edgar's lackeys and then Edgar himself, the crew is okay now, we’ll be fine,” Ryan reassured.

“Don’t jinx it you dumbass,” Ray tries to bring the conversation back to a lighter tone, “I’m gonna go sleep now, I’m fucking exhausted,” Ray yawns.

“Yeah, yeah, you get some sleep, that’s all I wanted to check up on,” Ryan nodded.

“Oh and, Ryan? Lose the greasepaint, at least around the house, you’re one of us now,” Ray says after turning back towards him, “But hey, it’s pretty hot when you’re acting all threatening and angry,” Ray jokes with a wink, leaving Ryan standing at his door with a shocked look to his heating face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your read is highly appreciated, drive safe.


	4. You Ruined Date Night.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James Ryan Last name unknown: The Vagabond and Mad King guy. Ray really needed to start expecting the unexpected when it came to that man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song that plays in my head every time I write any sort of fight preparation scene, is the song: Soldiers by Otherwise. If you enjoy a good rock song give it a listen, I'm a big fan. It actually came on during the time I was writing that sort of scene and it just worked so perfectly, don't you guys love it when random chance just gives you that perfect little golden egg?  
Have a nice read, hope you all enjoy the chapter! It got waaaay longer than I planned on, but it works for me!  
Oh, yeah this is where the "Graphic depictions of violence" play's a part and will play a part in the story going forward.  
Also! Smut! I don't write it often so I do apologize... 1451 words pf smut to be exact... wowza.

The crew had been at the house for three days. three days of radio silence, members from B-team were starting to call at odd hours of the day, checking in on the crew’s progress. Geoff had felt bad for keeping B-team out of the loop, but the less they knew the better, the tattooed gang leader had informed B-team that he and the others were planning something big, and they needed to lay low for a while. A cheap, easy lie.

Gavin was having a difficult time acquiring any further information on Edgar’s whereabouts, it was like Edgar's entire crew just up and disappeared, it was making everyone at the house feel uneasy and unsettled. Gavin was getting more and more frustrated as time went on with no word from any of their sources or the internet.

Jack had gone about procuring more vehicles and weapons for the crew. The stash Jack had used was old, it was probably hidden when the crew last used The Farm. Thankfully for Jack, the weapons had been untouched and well preserved on the side of Mount Chiliad, unthankfully for Jack, Mount Chiliad at any point of the day was fucking cold. He did his best to keep Geoff calm, but with the lack of any insight, things were once again feeling tense on the farm.

Michael was itching to get back into the fray, every day was filled with him needing bed rest, but not wanting it. He swore and fought with Gavin at several points during those 3 days, causing an invisible line to form between the established lovers. Date night wasn’t looking like it was gonna become a thing anytime soon for the two.

Ryan hadn’t been seen since that night, but Ray was sure he hadn’t left the farm. The Vagabond was prancing around the crew like the legend he was, but very carefully stayed out of Rays sight, he was sick and tired of the bitchy act the youngest was putting on, if he hadn’t had any forethought, if it were any other person demanding things of him, the man would’ve just stabbed Ray days ago.

Ray was pissed, if The Mad King was intimidated by Ray’s flirting, he should grow a pair and fucking say he’s not interested. Yeah, Ray was drowning himself in videogames, he knew he was being unfair, but he needed something to direct his anger and unrest before he exploded. He felt cramped in the farmhouse.

It was well into a Tuesday morning when Ryan had finally reemerged to the youngest, Ray was sat in the family room, annihilating Gavin in some new FPS that had recently come out.

“No! Ahh! X-Ray, mercy, mercy! We’re on the same team!” Gavin yelled loudly through hits fits of laughter, he moved with his character, leaning all over the dust-free couch, annoying the hell out of ray in the process.

“Gavin, you are such a piece of shit at this game,” Michael laughed having been observing from the doorway, his own emotions going up and down, he was more of a hair-trigger than normal, what with him being mostly confined to he and Gavin’s bedroom for the past few days, the eldest lad was absolutely itching to blow something up.

“Ahh! Michael! You scared me,” The brit said after jumping, flailing, falling off the couch, and flailing some more.

Michael laughed seeing Gavin’s head pop up from behind the couch, the whole scene causing Michael to give his usual shit-eating grin to his boi.

“Oh, thank god someone better than Gavin at videogames, c’mon come join,” Ray beckoned feeling an itch to absolutely destroy someone in a game, hopefully, someone who could possibly challenge him.

“I think I’m good, you seem to be on a power trip enough as it is,” Michael said rolling his eyes.

“But I need help, and you love games!” Gavin says enthusiastically, misreading Michael’s tense posture.

“Yeah, well, I don’t feel like playing,” Michaels tone had gone cold, looking away from the other two feeling his emotions of uselessness throw him again.

Ray looked between the two other lads, sensing there was more to this than Michael just being a dick. He was fully planning on absconding from existence when he felt his phone vibrate. There weren’t too many who had this number, so usually, that meant something was wrong, but the message wasn’t from even a semi-friendly face.

_ Date Night! Join sexy widows in your area for a fight to the death! _

_ The meeting will be around 2:30 pm tomorrow _

_ 243 Innocence boulevard _

_ Don’t be late now! _

There was a cute hamster emoji at the end of the text.

“What the fuck?” Ray mumbled looking at the strange text.

Gavin looked over to the youngest, but before he could ask, his own phone vibrated with the same message.

“What kind of spam is this, Date night?” Gavin spoke curiously.

“What? What’s going on?” Michael walks forwards trying to get a look at Gavin’s phone.

“What are you doin’ you psychopath?” Gavin accused, wrenching his phone out of the way.

“Let me see,” Michael pressured.

“No, go back upstairs, you’re an absolute wanker,” Gavin huffs.

“No, somethings going on, show me, I’m fucking fine Gav, I can look at a goddamn text message without ripping my fucking stitches, give me the fucking phone!” He yelled.

Ray felt the need to just slowly sneak away, and that’s what he was in the middle of doing. He’d even made it halfway across the room before either lad noticed.

“Ray! Help me out here, tell Michael he can’t have anything to do with whatever’s going on!” Gavin quickly rounded on the sniper causing him to flinch.

“C’mon Ray you fucking owe me one, tell me what’s going on,” Michael said angrily glaring at Gavin.

Sighing Ray was going through his options when Geoff, Ryan, and Jack barged into the room.

“Did any of you get that creepy text too?” Geoff asked quickly.

“Yeah, uh me and Gavin did,” Ray nodded, ignoring the other two.

“Alright, meeting in the planning room in two hours,” Geoff announced turning briskly right around and making his way over to the dining room.

Quite like the other night, Geoff stood next to the boards on the wall, Jack sat closest to where the leader stood, Ryan was leaning up against the wall, and the three lads sat facing Geoff.

“So, what the fuck is this text?” Michael angrily asked Geoff as he took a seat.

“Huh? Oh, right you don’t have a phone anymore, here,” Geoff quickly handed Michael his phone with the message displayed.

“Geoff, no, he isn’t healed yet,” Gavin said loudly.

“What? It’s just a text, it’s not like he’s out in the field right now,” Geoff rolled his eyes at the floundering brit.

“But it’s Michael, he’s gonna demand to be a part of what we do,” Gavin argued, a tired look encapsulating his features.

“Michael, you’re not going with us,” Geoff sighed in agreement with Gavin.

“But I can fucking help,” Michael huffed angrily. 

“Hah, see you’re gonna be in bed when we go out,” Gavin said tauntingly.

“Actually, Geoff and I discussed this, Michael is going to be helping, there’s no reason he can’t help us from the house, still a part of this, just not at risk,” Jack surmised helpfully causing the tension to go down in the room.

“A happy compromise, can you two deal with that?” Geoff asked pointedly, his eyes saying that they’d better deal with it or else.

“Yeah, anything, what am I doing?” Michael gratefully sat up straighter.

Gavin just nodded in agreement, knowing he was being a bit overzealous about Michael's recovery.

“You, my angry, angry friend, are gonna be using Gavin’s programs to help him watch the security footage of the building that we’re supposed to go to. Jack has found out that the building we are going into is an old Firehall that’s being used as a front for a major drug runner in LS, obviously, they must have ties to Edgar, since The Hamster decided to nicely ask us to join her there, we are to expect at least 10 armed men just like with The pig,” Geoff commanded the attention of his crew with grace. 

“Twelve armed, eight men and four women,” Ray corrected quietly, the other two lads sending him a quick look of worry.

“Y’all remember The Duck?” The gang leader asks, not having heard the youngest’s correction.

“The bastard who attacked Michael,” Gavin supplied, a coldness to his voice.

Gavin couldn’t stand thinking about how he could’ve lost Michael.

“Also, the bastard I fucking capped,” Michael himself stated helpfully, in a challenging set to Gavin’s words.

Michael still didn’t understand why Gavin was so upset, he’d been hurt before, so what made this any different?

“Right, well as Ryan informed us a few days ago, The Duck had a crazy-ass wife who was also in cahoots with Edgar, we’re to assume she wants revenge on whoever killed her husband. From what we’ve gathered, the bitch doesn’t know who exactly put him under, so we’re gonna use that to our advantage, we’re gonna set her up using her own set up,” Geoff explained, “Jack is gonna get a chopper and land it somewhere accessible, in case this goes tits up we need a few different ‘scape routes. Ray, you’re gonna be on the roof of an apartment building that’s right across from it, snipe anyone who tries to go in or out, if it ain’t us, shoot ‘em dead. I’m gonna tell her that I killed her husband, I'll go in to do her weird meetup. Which leads me to you, Ryan, you’re gonna sneak into the building, don’t get caught, silently kill as many of her lackeys as you can and then once I have her distracted, reunite the poor woman with her hubby. Then we’ll both go through and dispose of anyone still alive. We’re all gonna get up bright and early for this,” Geoff smiles, the adrenaline from just thinking about the heist rising in his bloodstream.

“Perfect, c’mon Gav show me how the fuck to be a hacker-man,” Michael smiled, his anger forgotten.

Gavin gave Michael a nod and stood up, the two quickly made their way out of the dining room and into the foyer, clearly intent on looking over Gavin’s program. Geoff was collecting some of his papers and laying them out when Ryan sauntered over to where Ray was still sitting. Without even sparing the mercenary a glance, the youngest decided pettiness was his best course of action and stood, following the other two lads. Instead of committing and going into the office to make sure he wouldn’t be bothered by Ryan, Ray bitched out, secretly hoping Ryan would follow him up to their rooms and explain his shit. Ray knew he was being an asshole, but he couldn’t help it, the lad had thought with all of Ryan’s sharing lately, that he’d truly put forth the final shove of trust with the group. Honestly, Ray knew he couldn’t legitimately say shit to the madman, what with his own track record of utter bullshit concerning trust and all that, but damnit the sniper couldn’t think straight around the resident psychopath.

Jack and Geoff shared looks once Ryan and Ray exited the planning room.

“I wonder when those two will finally get it on and stop moping,” Geoff sighed shaking his head.

“I don’t know, but I hope that it happens soon, their tension is so thick its almost palpable,” Jack jokes.

Making it into his room, Ray was relieved when he heard the tell tail loud sound of a concise knock to his door.

“What?” Ray automatically asked with false annoyance seeping into his tone.

Ray opened the door and froze, he didn’t know what to do, the man before him was obviously The Vagabond, but he donned no mask. Barefaced with a timid smirk, Ryan sauntered past Ray and took a seat on the edge of his bed like the man fucking belonged there. Ray had to swallow thickly, the dumbfounded feeling allowing him to gawk at Ryan with reckless abandon. Taking in every detail of the other's face, his long hair, his strong jaw, the guy was Ray’s walking wet dream.

“Holy shit,” He mumbled.

“Yeah I know, I was, uh, trying to get on with showing you the other day, but, I dunno this whole entrusting you guys with my deepest darkest secret thing, after having only recently met you, just didn’t settle right for me,” Ryan ran a hand through his sandy blond hair.

“You’re hot,” Ray observed, his filter destroyed completely by the shock of seeing the elusive mercenary’s face, Ray had quickly realized how unrealistic his expectations were after hearing Ryan’s words.

“Yeah? You’re not too bad yourself, Brownman,” the elder of the two, shot back quickly.

Ryan hadn’t been sure about showing Ray his face, he wasn’t going to at first. At first, the man was content letting Ray throw his little temper tantrum and just tell the lad to get fucked, but then Ryan had gotten that weird feeling from before, the feeling he had when Ray disappeared. Ryan quickly decided that, hey, if there’s an almost 100% chance they’ll all get killed by Edgar and his goons, he might as well enjoy the last few days he has left. Ryan was never very optimistic.

“I wasn’t actually expecting you to show us your face, I think I was just using that as an excuse to be pissed off after the feelings fest we all had, it makes me feel gross to emotion,” Ray said using air quotes around the word emotion. The lad was honestly embarrassed by his own actions over the past three days.

“And here you are communicating like an adult, you should be proud of yourself, Ray,” Ryan teased, “I’m not taking this off for the others, they haven’t earned that yet,” Ryan said, letting himself relax slightly His back, hitting Ray’s bed, his legs still hanging off.

“Yeah, no that’s fine, you do you an’ all that,” Ray nodded assuring the other, “Wait, does that mean _I_ earned it?” Ray asked with a snort, shooting Ryan an amused yet thoroughly confused look.

Ray watched Ryan as he pulled his arms behind his head and closed his eyes, The Vagabond let his acceptance of the situation wash over him like a thinly veiled fog settling in a damp forest. Ray knew he needed to think before acting just a bit more, but hell, he knew he was fucked up in the emotional intelligence area of things. Hesitantly, Ray moved to his bed and collapsed next to the deadly killer. They both moved up into a more comfortable position, they didn’t cuddle or anything, the coldness of the room didn’t force them together, they weren’t in some dumb rom-com that Gavin secretly watches, and Michael openly enjoys, the two criminals simply laid next to each other. Not too close, but not so far away.

“This isn’t a _surviving_ type of mission for you is it?” Ray asked tentatively, roving his eyes over the individual in his bed. He understood Ryan a bit more than even he thought.

“What gave it away?” Ryan asked cracking open his ocean blue eyes to gaze into Ray’s dark ones.

“Your lah-zee fair attitude about telling the others your history, your name, showing me your face even though I was acting like a bratty teenager, the way you talk about Edgar and what happened between you two,” Ray concluded regretfully, his voice going soft.

“laissez-faire,” Ryan corrected looking away from the younger, “I knew Edgar would catch up to me eventually, I’ve made peace with this, I’ll end him even if it means I die with the bastard. He deserves everything that’s coming to him and more,” Ryan said with a delicate smile to his pretty face.

“Been there, tried that, but I’m not gonna let you die,” Ray said with a settled look to his face, his own assurance surprising him.

“As you said before, we don’t know each other,” Ryan shrugged, an unnoticeable laugh leaving his tightening chest.

“Hi, I’m Ray, I don’t actually have a middle name, uh, I’m a sniper for a ragtag crew, I grew up in New York City, my parents think I’m dead. I ran away and got into shooting purely by accident, but we don’t talk about that. Uhm, I have a weird birthmark on my thigh. I pretend I’m cool but I’m not, I don’t actually smoke weed, my cigarettes are bad enough… I don’t know anything about zodiac signs so I dunno what I am. I’m gay as shit though so watch out, I might go and catch feelings for ya,” He listed trying to come off as joking, “I don’t expect you to spill your guts out to me, Rye, but I’d like to get to know you, if that’s not too Impossible of a task,” Ray says, he spoke clearly, staring up at the ceiling as he did so.

“You don’t have a middle name?” Ryan asked, his tone showing just how perplexed he was by that notion. The sound of the easily given nickname made the hardened criminal suck in a silent cautious breath of air.

“Really? That’s what you got out of that? No, I don’t have a middle name, guess mama Narvaez felt like adding anything extra would cramp the coolness of my name,” Ray rolled his eyes, an amused look covering his face.

The two laid on the warming sheets, the room beginning to feel stuffy, the bed too small to fit both of them comfortably, not with the way they were laid. Neither would dare change how this moment went by, it was perfect. Ray’s small room was perfect for them, no real expectations dawning on the two, just comfortable banter and quiet conversation. The moment was broken by Ryan abruptly looking directly in the younger's eyes before speaking, a strange look accompanying his face.

“_James_… Tell anybody and they’ll never even hope to find your body, but my first name is James, Ryan’s my middle name,” The Mercenary said before turning over and pulling one of Ray’s pillows under his head. His heart was racing, the decision to tell Ray his first name was one that wasn’t easy, he did a lot to protect his identity.

Ray felt like throwing up at the momentous sign of trust that was thrust into his arms, even though he’d asked for it, once again Ray wasn’t expecting the usually secretive man to comply with his request for information. He didn’t expect it, but the lad was thankful for it.

A silent, “Oh,” Left Ray’s parted lips, the information left his brain muddled with different thoughts about James Ryan Last name unknown: The Vagabond and Mad King guy. Ray really needed to start expecting the unexpected when it came to that man. Ray had never known himself to act the way he’s been the past three days. He honestly couldn’t say why he’d begun acting like that for sure, he chalked it up to the Edgar situation, but really who was he kidding? He might not know for sure why he acted the way he did, but he certainly had a few theories. The younger criminal turned his head to catch a glimpse of the man in his bed. Ryan laid with his back to the other, he was breathing slowly and steadily, his signature dark leather jacket thrown on the floor.

The next morning was slow, the crew all waking at different times, but still early. Ray had awoken to an empty bed, and the curtains are drawn to let the bright sun blind him. Someone had pulled the covers over Ray at some point and taken his glasses off. Feeling almost disappointed at the empty portion of his mattress, Ray slowly made his way out of bed, changed, brushed his teeth, and put in his contacts deciding to forgo his usual thick black-rimmed glasses. The lad sighed at the embodiment of exhaustion that stared back at him in the mirror, he didn’t sleep very well at all, not that bad sleep was abnormal for him, but his expectations kept coming back to bite him in the ass. Ray made his way down the two sets of stairs and through the family room to the kitchen. Ray was evidently not the last one to wake up when a hair ruffled sleepy Gavin sauntered into the kitchen behind him. Geoff was nervously cooking the whole crew breakfast, the leader wouldn’t show it, but every heist made him just a bit nervous the morning of.

“Alright, we’re gonna eat and then we’ll head out, Gavin did you and Michael get into the building's security footage?” Geoff speaks with assurance.

“Yeah, it wasn’t too easy, but we did it,” Gavin yawns loudly.

“Me an’ Gav are in, after breakfast I’ll go check to see if anything has changed before you leave,” Michael said quickly.

Michael was buzzing with energy, thankful to finally be of some help to the rest of his crew, sure the man was disappointed that he couldn’t go with Jack or something still out in the field, but after days of being cooped up in just his room, he was still appreciative.

“Good, alright it’s done, we got pancakes and eggs,” Geoff supplied. The leader had gone into town grocery shopping after Ray’s burst of anger the other night, stocking up the entire house with a month’s worth of food.

Jack helped the leader bring the food over into the planning room, the others following them like starving puppies. Ryan was already in the dining room, helpfully setting the table for the crew. Ray looked over at Ryan as he took his usual seat. Once the Vagabond was finished, he snagged the spot next to the sniper. This action caused Ray to smile if not barely. The crew ate, not in relative silence, but with raucous laughter and booming conversation. The crew quickly cleaned up their mess, dumping their trash and placing their dishes in the sink for someone to deal with later.

Michael and Gavin make their way up the stairs and to Gavin’s office. The other four collect their weapons and take stock of their ammunition. Ray zipped up his usual purple hoodie and slings his rifle case over his shoulder, he then shoves his hoodie pockets with rounds for his sniper in the chance he needs to switch to manual loading. Ryan smiles under the mask, watching Ray gear up so to speak, the older criminal straps several knife holsters to his body, taking care to choose which knives he took with him and where he hid them all. Geoff went up to his room to change out of his sleep pants and into his usual business ready tuxedo. Geoff, knowledgeable of the position he’s put himself in, slides on a light bulletproof vest before dressing in the top half of his suit. Jack checked the status of the helicopter, simultaneously loading his own guns, the burly man hung up his phone and shot a nod to The Vagabond, Ray, and Geoff once the leader rejoined them.

“We ready?” Geoff asks, a vicious smile landing on his mustached face.

“Yep,” Ray nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets with the large bullets.

“The chopper is fueled and ready, I’ll bring her over as soon as I get to the airfield,” Jack nodded.

Geoff looked over to The Vagabond who gave him a simple nod after inspecting a particularly brutal knife with a curved blade and serrated edge. Ryan didn’t speak when on any sort of mission or heist unless he absolutely needed to, it helped scare the shit out of gangs and crews, so they’d think twice about fucking him over. Geoff, Ryan, and Ray all piled into Geoff’s sedan and quickly drove out of the Garage and onto the dirt road that leads out of the area. Jack stepped into his own vehicle and drove off to the airstrip where his helicopter rental was waiting. Pulling onto the only state paved road around, Geoff watched his phone light up where it was mounted on the air vents and quickly answered the call.

“Hey, Geoff,” Michael’s voice rang through the car’s speakers.

“What’s up? Already sick of Gavin’s shit?” Geoff jokes.

“Hah! No, I give it another hour before that dumbass drives me insane and I kill him,” Michael says fondly, a loud yelp being heard from said dumbass, “We can see the whole firehouse I don’t think they even know there’s cameras man, like none of them are covered up, Gav did his thing and doesn’t think they’re looped unless it’s a long-ass loop, so, it looks like we’re good so far,” Michael informs.

“Perfect, thanks buddy, look just hang in there, you’ll be back out doing heists in no time,” Geoff smiled and said his goodbyes before hanging up the call.

Hours later, Geoff, Ryan, and Ray final pulled into a parking lot about four building’s down from the abandoned firehouse. The three of them silently step out of the car, all hiding their weapons in their clothes or bags. Geoff stays behind as The Vagabond keeps to the shadows, slinking his way in a convoluted direction towards the firehouse. Ray nods to Geoff before making his way over to the medium-sized apartment complex and racing up the fire escape with quiet steps, he carefully skipped steps with the use of the well-made railings that lined the platforms. Once at the top of the building the youngest FAHC member ran to the edge and began to step up. Whipping the case over to his front, Ray knelt on the rough cement and opened it. He took a quick moment to appreciate its beauty before picking up the separate pieces to the pink sniper rifle and screwing them together, his heart began to race faster as each segment clicked perfectly. The second to last piece of his modified rifle was the scope, the masterpiece of a lens was the single most expensive thing he owned other than the rifle itself, the last piece was the short clip that held his specially crafted ammunition.

Looking down the scope at the sidewalk Ray watched Geoff walk towards the door to the firehouse, he turned and nodded to Ray. For the plan to work, Ray had swapped out his short rectangular noise reducer for a long fat cylindrical silencer, no silencer was perfect, but this one was close enough. Ray adjusted the sight and moved his rifle along the building’s exterior. He just barely got a glimpse of Ryan climbing through a window on the second floor of the firehouse. Smirking, Ray turned his rifle to look through the window to a man standing and picking at his nails. Ray went through his usual mantra: Inhale, finger on the trigger, exhale, bang. One dead.

The man Ray was aiming at dropped as the bullet ripped through his skull like a katana through thin tracing paper. Ray was confident that Ryan would silence anyone before the others were alerted. Ray quickly reloaded and shot two more before he caught another glimpse of Ryan slicing the throat of a man in the only office that Ray could see into. Ray quickly laid flat on the roof to see two men walking down adjacent hallways towards the now dead bodies. Quickly Ray shoots them both and another before Ryan could even step out of the room. Ray watched through his scope as Ryan ducked in and out of rooms collecting a spatter of blood on his dark jacket, the fluorescent lights highlighting the carnage.

Ryan could feel Ray’s eyes on him as he initially climbed through the window, crouching silently he stalked up to the only gunman in the room and quickly stabbed him before he could spot the deadly man. The Vagabond stepped out of the office room just in time to watch bodies drop from Ray’s deadly aim, smirking under the mask he dipped into another room, slicing the throat of the gunman before she had time to scream. Rinse and repeat, The Vagabond silently walked through the upper floor checking for any bodies still breathing. Ryan was brutal and quick, slicing up anyone he saw, just to be sure, always had to be sure.

Jack, before the other three in the field even got near the city, had made it to the airfield where he’d set up a meeting to rent out a helicopter for “Personal” use. He’d been waiting for an excuse to steal a helicopter for months now, needless to say, the man was excited. Once he parked, he called Michael's phone.

“Hey! I just got off the phone with Geoff, I got into the airfield cameras like two minutes ago, uhh, looks like there’s two guys, one in the office and the other in the hanger looking over some plane. We ganking them or what?” Michael asks.

“I was planning on just knocking them out… but I really want this airfield, it’s close enough to the farmhouse, but also near LS… Should I threaten them and shoot them only if they resist?” Jack asks.

“Go for it, if the bitches refuse to work for the FAHC kill ‘em dead,” Michael says with a shrug.

“Perfect, alright, I’m gonna put in a Bluetooth earbud, stay on the line with me,” Jack says as he places the earbud.

“Oh shit, that’s smart, we should get like spy earbuds for the whole crew,” Michael says spinning in his chair next to Gavin who writes down the idea.

Geoff walks into the firehouse, spotting the Hamster at once. The empty firehouse looked grim with the dim lights, some flickering and dying out only to flicker back on moments later, Geoff wasn’t scared, he knew the other two members of his crew had his back.

“Are you the one?” Marilynn Dunham snapped her head towards the tattooed gang leader, her hamster mask shuddering with the force.

“Huh? Well, that depends lady, what’d I supposedly do?” Geoff asked with confidence, there was a danger in the way the man spoke and walked closer.

“Don’t come any closer! You know what you did!” She screams, her voice cracking.

Geoff rolled his eyes at the dramatics and watched through his peripherals as The Vagabond slowly opened a door off to the right and behind the Hamster and her four lackeys that stood with her.

“Like I said, what’d I do?” Geoff laughed shaking his head at the woman.

“You ruined date night,” She said with a sudden angry calm to her voice.

Ryan quickly killed the two people closest to him. Geoff yanks out his pistol, he brought his favorite, and gunned down the other two, before the hamster could react, Ryan had made his way over and pulled his arm around The Hamster’s neck, Ryan pulled off the mask and pressed a curved blade to her throat.

“Give my regards to Andrew and CC in hell, but don’t worry, the others will join you soon,” Ryan said in a hushed whisper before digging the blade into her jugular.

Geoff watched in slight awe as the woman dropped to the ground.

“Well shit,” Geoff said promptly after.

The two quickly turned when they hear a door open and see another masked goon run out, Geoff and Ryan share glances before Ryan whips out his pistol and the two shoot the man, loud bangs riveting off the walls.

“We better get out of here before any cops show up, no doubt the people in that apartment building heard those shots,” Geoff says looking out of one of the many windows.

The two had run out and met Ray outside when the three hear the loud sounds of helicopter blades in the distance.

“I hope that’s Jack,” Ray Says pointedly.

“It is, it has to be, no way an LSPD helicopter got here that fast,” Geoff reasoned.

Ryan shrugged with his own response of ‘maybe.’

“Oh, that’s Jack,” Geoff said with a wide smile and a crazed laugh.

“Is that… a cargo bob?” Ryan asked completely miffed.

“Hey, that means he can just pick up the car and we can all ride in the bob,” Ray states, adjusting the strap from his case.

The three watches as Jack lands the cargo bob with ease in the wide street, people had begun coming out of their holes to see what all of the commotion was from, sirens could be heard in the distance. Geoff giddily climbs into the copilot seat, leaving Ray and Ryan to jump in the back.

“Jack, go pick up my car!” Geoff yells into the headset he’d put on.

“Sure thing!” Jack takes off after he had confirmation that the other two were seated and geared up with headsets, he quickly found Geoff’s car with help from the gent himself and deployed the hook. To the crew, it felt like it’d taken hours for Jack to finally position the hook and pick the ugly Sedan up, but in reality, it’d only taken him ten minutes. The crew all whooped and cheered when they were 40 feet above the apartments and still carrying the Sedan.

“Wait until Gavin and Michael see this!” Geoff yells.

“I’ve got them hooked up to the cameras! They can see everything!” Jack supplies.

“This thing has cameras?” Ryan was holding on for dear life, his heart rate spiking at every jolt of the flying deathtrap.

“Yeah, you gotta’ be able to see the hook and all that right?” Ray guessed feeling at ease in the bulky cargo helicopter, “You alright there, Rye?”

“I hate this! Next time, we’re driving back!” Ryan yelled.

Geoff and Jack shared a cackling laugh and Ray chuckled. The sniper shook his head at the normally fearless killer. Their trip was cut in half but was still long in the slow air vehicle. Jack hovering the cargo bob over the airfield.

“Oh, by the way, Geoff, we now have an airfield out here, I convinced the owners that it’d be in their best benefit to cater to our crew, of course it was helped with a small sum of cash, but they officially work for us now,” Jack smiled at the leader as two men rushed out to help unload the car, giving Jack a thumbs up once the car was safely on the ground and unhooked.

Jack expertly landed the air vehicle just in time for Ryan to rush out of the open doors and stop no short of twenty feet away. Ray trailed after him sending the man a comforting smile.

“Alright! Let’s get back to base,” Geoff nodded a quick thanks and passed a few bills over to the two men who owned the field. 

“Thank you, Mr. Ramsey, come on back anytime you need us, my name is Aaron and this dumbass here is Chris,” The man smiled and gave Geoff a quick handshake.

“Welcome to the crew,” Geoff smiled nodding goodbye.

Jack waves walking towards his own car, the remaining three criminals get into Geoff’s sedan and begin the short drive back to the Farmhouse. The three watch as Jack drives off, Geoff not even bothering to keep up with him. A few minutes into their journey Ryan speaks up.

“Do you know where you’re going?” Ryan asks once he realizes that Geoff had taken four left turns.

“I don’t know why you didn’t just follow Jack,” Ray rolled his eyes at the crew leader from the back seat, quickly taking out his phone and pulling up google maps.

Ray ignored the arguing from the two in the front seats and pulled on his seatbelt, stretching it so he could lean forward between Geoff and Ryan.

“Turn right up here, keep straight, then turn off onto the highway,” Ray directed, cutting off the argument that Geoff should go right, then left.

“That was fucking awesome!” Michael yelled from his seat on the couch once the three criminals walk into the family room from the garage.

“Woah, what happened to you lot?” Gavin asks taking in the mud-covered clothes.

“Why don’t you ask, ‘Mr. I know where I’m going’ here,” Ryan glares at Geoff.

“I need a shower,” Ray says grumpily and begins to walk off, presumably to go upstairs to him and Ryan’s shared bathroom.

“You don’t wanna know,” Geoff says, his mustache flattened and caked in dirt.

“Should’a followed me,” Jack whistled at the state of the crew leader, “Hey, leave your shoes in the garage, don’t track mud in the house!” Jack yells after Ray who sighs audibly before walking back into the garage and throwing off his checkered vans. Ryan follows suit, gently placing his boots next to the short stairs in the garage.

Gavin and Michael share a look before busting out in loud laughter, causing Geoff to grumble and follow the other two up out of the room.

“What in the bloody hell?” Gavin laughs.

Ray stomps up the stairs, loudly letting the others know of his annoyance. Ray walked into his bedroom, leaving the sniper case and ammunition on his messy unmade bed, he stepped into the cold bathroom, taking off his soaked through socks and leaving them in the brown wicker hamper, the lad hung up his wet hoodie onto a towel hook and turned on the shower to the hottest setting. A knock on the door alerted him to another’s presence.

“You decent?” Ryan’s voice calls out.

“Yeah, come in,” Ray calls back shutting off the shower again.

“Nice shooting back there, I’m impressed,” Ryan says, his voice unmuffled by the lack of his signature mask.

“I’m not only good at videogames,” He shrugs standing awkwardly.

“After your shower, uh, can you go down and wash my mask? I can’t exactly go down to the laundry room with the others there,” Ryan asked just as awkwardly as Ray felt.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, that’s cool, does it need like one of the weird settings on the machine?” Ray nods.

“Yeah, the uh delicates setting, make sure the waters cold and the spin is low, if that’s alright with you,” He trails off.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s how I clean my hoodie anyway,” Ray gestures over to the purple jacket, scratching the back of his head, “there anything else?” He asks looking around at anything but the unmasked killer.

“No, no, that’s all, thanks, I’m just gonna leave this here,” He says, placing the mask on the counter next to the large sink, before turning and briskly walking through the door leading to his room.

The bathroom, that divided their rooms, was large enough to have two sinks, a shower bathtub combo, the wicker basket, and two doors both leading to the respective rooms of the two criminals. Ray carefully, removed his contacts with little struggle before walking back to the shower and turning the water back on. Ray carefully takes off his jeans and boxers, making sure not to hit the still healing wound on his thigh. He then quickly pulled his shirt over his head, throwing the garments into the hamper. Ray steps under the hot spray of the dual-headed shower, thanking Geoff for allowing Ray and Michael to hire a plumber and install years ago when the crew first had this safehouse.

After around forty minutes of philosophical self-discussion, self-cleaning, and one guilt-ridden jerk off later, Ray turned off the water and grabbed a fluffy black towel off of the towel rack, wrapping the dry towel around himself, the sniper stepped out of the shower onto the cold linoleum floor. The younger walked over to the fogged over mirror and drew a smiley face that quickly turned creepy by the dripping condensation. Ray grabbed his jacket and Ryan’s mask before walking into his room and changing into fresh clothes, the lad needed to do laundry anyway, his lack of a wardrobe clear in the state of his closet. Freshly dressed, Ray collected the wicker basket, shoving the jacket and mask onto the top of the lid, and knocked on Ryan’s door.

“Who is it?” Ryan asked although he suspected he knew the answer.

“Tafkar,” Ray responded with a roll of his eyes.

“Come on in,” Ryan laughed lightly.

Ray opened the door, lugging the wicker basket along with him, “Hey, do you have any other clothes that need…wa-shing,” Ray trailed off, eyes widening at the sight in front of him.

Ryan was shirtless, his broad and muscled, scar riddled chest on display for Ray to gawk at. Ray had thankfully put his glasses back on and was practically drooling at the sight, he roamed his eyes over the large expanse of skin, taking in every imperfection, every scar. Ray took note of the several more obvious scars, puckered round scars from what he assumed were bullet wounds, long jagged scars from knives, some deep scars that Ray couldn’t tell what they were caused from.

“You good there?” Ryan asked a handsome smirk splitting his face.

“I look like a drowned rat compared to you, you look like a fucking Adonis dude,” Ray said eloquently.

Ryan gave a hearty laugh, one that rocked Ray to the care, the lad vowed right then and there to make Ryan laugh like that whenever he could. Ryan tilted his heads taking in the sight of a still damp Ray, he licked his smooth lips trying to dissuade the thoughts that ran through his head, the sight of Ray’s parted lips giving his brain plenty of _ideas_.

“Here,” Ryan grabs the small pile of clothes that had formed over the few days spent at the Farmhouse.

The older of the two sauntered over to Ray, keeping eye contact the entire time as he gently pulled open the lid to the wicker basket and dropped his clothes in, making sure not to knock off Ray's jacket or hiss mask from the top.

“I’ll see you later,” Ryan dismissed him and turned around going back to his bed where a large thin laptop sat on top of a lap desk of the same size.

“Yeah,” Ray says dumbly before all but running out of the room, forgetting completely how heavy the basket was, the lad brought it down the stairs and into the laundry room.

Dumbfounded, Ray stood in the room and sat down the basket, ignoring the ache in his arms, he hadn’t even realized that Gavin was stood next to the dryer with wide eyes.

“Is that Rye-breads mask?” He asked gaining the attention of Michael who was walking past the room that Ray had never closed the door to.

“Holy shit, you know what The Vaga-bitch looks like?” Michael winked at Gavin, the two sharing a silent inside joke.

“Uh-huh,” Ray says quietly nodding.

“Well? Is he hot?” Michael and Gavin ask simultaneously.

“uh-huh,” Ray nods again.

The two other lads laugh loudly, Gavin closes the dryer and follows Michael out of the laundry room to go share the news with the two Gents in the Family room. Ray opens the washing machine and throws in a few clothes with the mask and hoodie, he goes on autopilot grumbling about how ‘hot psychopath’ is stupid. Eventually, Ray gets tired of waiting, setting an alarm on his phone and walking out to the family room, sitting down, and regretting his decision to do so.

“So, Ray,” Jack start’s and Ray instantly gets a feeling about this conversation.

“When did Ryan the secretive guy show you his face?” Geoff asks, the two gents sitting down on either side of the lad.

Michael and Gavin snickered from their spot on the loveseat next to the main couch.

“Last night after we went over the plan,” He shrugs, acting like it didn’t matter, even though it totally did.

“Uh-huh,” Geoff nods looking at Jack.

“Hey, Ray, why’re you acting so weird?” Jack asks knowingly.

“I saw Ryan shirtless,” He admitted accidentally.

“Really?” Jack says looking to Geoff as the other gent nods his head widely.

“So, what’s up with that buddy? Do we need to talk about interoffice romance?” Geoff asks jokingly.

“I think I really like him,” Ray says with wide eyes that made him look like a frightened bunny.

“I’ll make sure to give him a talk later on when he gets his mask back so I can threaten his life to his face,” Geoff concludes with a chorus of agreement from the others.

Later that night, Ray had brought up the laundry, clean, dry, and fluffy. The lad brought the wicker basket into his room, sifting through the clothes finding what was his and putting it out on his bed next to his rifle that he still hadn’t put away. The lad brought the rest of the clothes over to Ryan’s door, knocking seconds before walking in the lad quickly shut the door behind him.

“Hey here’s your stuff, the mask is in there somewhere,” Ray vocalized, looking down at the basket, avoiding looking at the other, “Right yeah so I’m gonna go put my stuff away, yeah,” Ray fast-walked out of Ryan’s room before the gent could get a word in edgewise.

Ryan was laid out on his bed, a hardcover copy of _The Manchurian Candidate_ by Richard Condon in his hands, Ryan had an eyebrow raised at Ray’s odd behavior. Several minutes later Ryan received a text from Geoff asking him to come down into the planning room for an impromptu meeting, the text also said not to get Ray. Curiously, Ryan sighs, placing a maroon bookmark between the pages saving his place in the political novel. The Mad King walked over, opening the brown wicker basket, and pulling out a long-sleeved shirt to pull over his head as well as his usual mask. Ryan silently made his way down the stairs and into the dining room- turned planning room.

“What’s this about Geoff?” He asked with an annoyed sigh, he was finally getting to one of his favorite parts of the book and really didn’t want to be bothered… unless it was Ray.

“Sit,” The demanding cold voice of the man, caused Ryan to finally take note of the room.

The entire crew sans Ray sat around the table, all with closed-off expressions save for Gavin who wore a small grin that he was obviously trying to suppress. Ryan felt the hair on the back of his neck rise at the looks the crew was all sending his way.

“Sit,” Geoff repeated himself, causing Ryan to quickly take his seat, he’d never seen the crime boss act so tough before, it was intriguing, to say the least.

“It’s come to my attention that you and Ray have a thing going on,” Geoff spoke clearly.

Now this ought to be good, Ryan thought to himself, a good ol’ shovel talk from a small bad crew of misfits that all worked so well together, Ryan had taken worse, he could take this.

“I just wanted you to know, that there’s nothing we will do to stop you and Ray from being together,” Geoff paused and suddenly pulled out a pistol he kept strapped to the underside of the table, “But, if you so much as hurt one little hair on that kid's head I will knock you out, find every single motherfucker who you’ve screwed over or pissed off, strap you down in the bed of a truck, leave you out in the desert, and drop your location to every single one of those people, I’ll make a fucking business out of torturing you, you got that?” Ryan listened to Geoff tone and took a deep breath; the man wasn’t bluffing.

“Yes, I understand, protect him, he needs it,” Ryan nods.

Geoff nods and stands up, leaving Ryan with the others. Apparently, next was Jack, to give Ryan the talk.

“I just want you to know, if you do hurt Ray, he’ll kill you himself, not even you, the big bad Vagabond will see it coming, treat him well,” Jack smiles and follows after Geoff. Ryan shivered slightly, he didn’t doubt Ray’s skill at all.

Michael was more violent in his threat, launching himself over the table despite his injuries, the eldest lad grabbed the remaining gent by the collar of his shirt, he got right up in Ryan’s space, which Ryan didn’t appreciate at all, and delivered his own talk.

“If you **_ever_** make Ray cry, I will take a nice wooden baseball bat and break your fucking kneecaps, mob-style, I’ll fuck you up so bad you’ll wish you could just fucking die,” Michael growled through clenched teeth.

“Alright, alright, Michael I think he gets it, lay off before you rip your bloody stitches!” Gavin rolls his eyes at his lover.

Michael nods and stands up dropping Ryan’s shirt leaving imprints of his fingertips in the fabric from how hard he’d gripped it.

“Hey, rye-bread? Don’t worry, I know you're not dumb enough to hurt ray, but just know, if you ever do? I’ll find every dark dirty secret you have, and hand-deliver it to the FBI, exposing your entire past, everything about you for the world to know, but you’ll never hurt him, so, you don’t need to think too hard on that one,” Gavin said this all with a sickly-sweet voice and a flutter to his eyelashes, innocent little Gav wasn’t so innocent after all.

Ryan watched, a newfound respect for the members of this crew, forming in his head, that’s was definitely as shovel talk if he’s ever heard one. The Vagabond shook his head and smoothed out his shirt before getting out of his seat and heading back up the stairs to sleep off the tension from the busy day. Once up the stairs, Ryan stopped at Ray’s door.

“I can feel you lurking you fucking psychopath, get in here,” Ray yelled from his place on the bed, he’d seen the shadow stop in front of his door and rolled his eyes.

Ryan sheepishly opened the door and took off his mask once the door was closed.

“W’sup?” Ray asked not looking away from the bubblegum pink DS that he held.

“Just wanted to let you know I’ve officially gotten the shovel talk from your crew,” Ryan smiled.

“Our crew,” Ray corrected, “Those guys are fucking assholes, I can protect myself,” He says boredly, not surprised by the news.

“Oh yeah that’s what jack said, he told me if I hurt you, I don’t need to worry about what he’d do ‘cause you’d get to me first,” Ryan nodded, setting his mask down on Ray’s mostly empty dresser.

“Fuck yeah I would,” He smirked a bit at the information, leave it to jack to have Rays back.

Ryan walked over and sat next to Ray on his bed, the springs groaning from the weight.

“What’re you playing?” He asks.

“Pokémon emerald, not my fav, but eh,” Ray says sparing a glance and freezing at the closeness of the elder criminal.

“Do I have something on my face? I swear I cleaned off my paint,” Ryan joked.

Ray looked away instantly, shaking his head no.

“Yeah, it’s your face,” Ray says dumbly, not able to think of a real joke.

“Hey, do you want this to be a thing?” Ryan asks after letting out a small laugh.

“Do you?” Ray shoots back.

“I asked you first,” Ryan asks stubbornly.

Ray sighs and saves his progress before snapping the DS shut and setting it aside.

“And what if I do?” Ray challenges, squinting his eyes at Ryan, “James,” Ray ends with Ryan’s first name, trying it out on his lips, saying it like a prayer.

Ryan sucks in a breath, his face heating slightly at the sound of Ray saying a name he hasn’t heard from another individual since his family was murdered.

“What would you do if I wanted us to be a thing, James?” Ray asked quietly, taking in the reaction he received.

“I would agree, warn you that I’m damaged goods, but I’d still want us to be a thing,” Ryan replies quietly, looking in Ray’s eyes.

“Good for you I’m damaged goods too, the whole crew is, it’s why we work so well together, honestly if there wasn’t something wrong with you, I’d be worried,” Ray smiles tilting his heads slightly, “Plus, that means we go on heists together and get into trouble.”

“God, you’re perfect,” Ryan word vomited.

“Heh,” Rays face tinged with embarrassment.

“Hey, Ray?” Ryan smiles, leaning forward.

“Yeah?” Ray smiles back, swiping his tongue over his chapped lips nervously.

“Can I kiss you?” Ryan asks quietly.

“Yeah, yeah you can kiss me,” Ray breaths in and smiles widely.

Ryan slowly moves forward letting his smooth lips press gently against Ray’s rough ones. The two mold together perfectly, now it's like a rom-com, Ryan bumped into Ray’s glasses, trying to deepen the soft kiss, causing the two to part with similar chuckles.

“Sorry,” Ray mumbles and slips his glasses up to rest on the top of his head.

“It’s fine,” Ryan responds, pressing forward into another kiss, this one deeper than the first.

Ryan took Ray’s bottom lip in between his teeth and pulled slightly, biting the sniper’s lip experimentally. Ryan moved a hand to press against Ray’s cheek, guiding him through the kiss. Ray hummed unable to keep fully quiet as Ryan kissed his way down to Ray's neck, giving a small nip and smirking at Ray’s quiet surprised gasp. Ray flushed, feeling himself melt into Ryan, the gent taking him apart with his lips. Ryan stopped, but before Ray could protest, he looked Ray in his brown eyes and gently pushed the lad down to lay flat on his bed. Ray was totally cool with that, no complaints here, Ray wrapped his arms around Ryan’s neck, pulling him down into another long, heated, kiss.

Ryan knelt over the smaller frame, running a hand down Ray’s side and down to his thigh, sending sparks up Ray’s spine. Ray couldn’t believe what was happening, his head was spinning, thoughts full of just Ryan, Ryan, Ryan. Said man trailed kisses back down to Ray's throat, sucking and biting until he was sure there’d be a dark bruise leftover in the morning.

“James,” Ray’s quietly gasped, a sharp sensation traveling south through his body.

Ryan looked up after giving a small laugh, he watched Ray’s half-lidded eyes blink open before capturing his mouth in another kiss, this kiss, however, was short as Ryan pulled away and began to sit up.

“Hey, what? No, did I do something?” Ray scrambled to follow him, pushing himself up onto his elbows.

“No, but we shouldn’t go any further, not until we have a real date,” Ryan was obviously arguing with himself over that.

“Oh, don’t give me that shit Rye, please? You’re killing me,” He groaned only mostly annoyed.

“I wanna do this right, I wanna do you right,” Ryan says looking over Ray’s flushed cheeks hungrily.

“C’mon, Ryan,” He sighs rolling his eyes.

“We’re not fucking yet,” Ryan concluded, going back to kissing Ray.

“You’re still gonna get me off right?” Ray asks between kisses.

“As long as I get off too,” Ryan teased challengingly.

“Oh, I’ll get you off,” Ray silently thanking whatever was out there for this.

“You better, this isn’t a one-sided relationship here,” Ryan said smiling at the word relationship.

Ryan brought a hand to the front of Ray’s strained jeans, causing Ray to moan quietly at the feeling. Ryan slowly unbuttoned Ray’s jeans not once breaking the kiss until they needed to pull the offending article of clothing off, Ray kicking them to the floor along with his shirt, his face red as Ryan stares down at him only in his boxers. Ryan continued lazily kissing him as he palms Ray through his boxers.

“Fuck,” Ray mumbled under his breath as Ryan ran a hand up his hardening length, a thin layer of cotton boxers the only thing separating them. Rays hands flew towards the hem of Ryan’s shirt, pulling at it expectantly.

Ryan chuckles and pulls away just long enough to pull the shirt off of his back and throwing it behind him landing on Ray’s dresser before sliding onto the floor, Ryan quickly stands up, Ray watching intently as the gent hurriedly pulls off his black sweatpants, leaving himself in plain black briefs, the outline of his hardened dick a prominent feature. Practically salivating, Ray locks eyes with Ryan as he climbs back over the sniper.

“Do you have any lube?” Ryan asks quietly.

“Yeah, yeah, uh, fuck,” Ray frantically sits up and turns, pulling open the drawer to his nightstand, fumbling around until his hand gripped the small tube of cherry flavored lube.

Ryan runs his hand over Ray's chest and down, before taking the bottle from Ray and spreading the lube on his palm and slipping his hand under the waistband of Ray’s boxers. Ray saw stars, almost finishing right then and there, once Ryan had a hand around him. Letting out an encouraging moan Ray involuntarily bucked his hips, jerking up into Ryan’s hold. The younger gripped the sheets below him in a tight, white knuckle fist. Ray moaned loudly when Ryan started moving his hand up slowly, Ray hated to admit it, but he hadn’t had anyone touch him this way since that one day back in the high school bathrooms during his lunch hour.

Ryan watched Ray, the look in his eyes showing an amount of affection that Ryan was scared to admit existed. He’d had his choice of bedmates through the years, but none that had hung the bloodied moon and stars in Ryan’s broken perfect night quite like Ray. Ryan sped up his pace, watching with intrigue as Ray arched his back off of the mattress and bit his lip. Ray opened his eyes and lifted his hand to run over the front of Ryan’s briefs.

“Don’t worry about me right now, let me take care of you,” Ryan whispered.

“Thought this- wasn’t an uh, hm, a one-sided relationship?” Ray spoke Ryan’s words back to him.

Ryan slowed his hand and let go, pulling his briefs down exposing his own hard length, grabbing the bottle of lube once again and spreading it directly on both of them, Ryan took them both in hand and began quickening his pace. Ryan hummed quietly and worried his lip when Ray thrust up into his hand against him. Taking a steadying breath, Ryan moved faster, not wanting to waste any more time teasing. The sun sank, the day succeeding to night as Rays room in the farmhouse filled with quiet moans and heavy panting.

Ray went back to fisting his hand against the sheets, his breathy groans of pleasure getting louder as he grew closer to his release. This egged Ryan on, setting a fast pace for the both of them.

“Ryan, Ryan, Fuck,” Ray hated that he was making these stupid sounds, they made his cheeks flush in embarrassment, but Ryan loved them.

Ray tried thrusting into Ryan’s grip again, but the pleasure was almost too much, he could feel his body tingling with a need that was coming up a little faster than the lad expected. The hot burning sensation in his stomach was growing as Ryan continued his movements, a bead of sweat falling down his cheek onto the bed next to Ray. Ray let out a small while as he felt the sensations becoming all too much and tipping him over the edge, spilling over Ryan’s hand and both of their members, Ray slumped down as Ryan worked him through his orgasm, the lad panting heavily. After a moment ray pushed at Ryan’s hand, feeling his skin crawl with the oversensitivity. Ryan let go of Ray and began pumping himself roughly.

“James,” Ray spoke softly, moving his hand, planning on helping to get Ryan off.

Apparently, that had done it for the older criminal, Ryan spilling over Ray’s abdomen. The white-hot blinding pleasure pushing a short moan out of the other’s lips. Ryan turned, collapsing almost on top of Ray, his back hitting the mattress roughly.

“That’s was fun,” Ray smiled lazily over at the panting man in his bed.

Ryan just smiled and gave a small laugh before pulling himself up and off the bed.

“Be right back,” He said, leaving Ray with a kiss to walk into the bathroom.

Ray looked up at his ceiling, thankful that Ryan reciprocated his feelings. Ryan walked back into the room, a towel in hand, and wiped down Ray’s chest, before walking back into the bathroom and depositing the towel into the wicker basket.

Ray sat up and hid away the bottle of lube and standing up to pull on a clean pair of boxers, Ryan returned clad in his own briefs having done the same.

“I think my beds bigger if you wanna sleep?” Ryan obviously suggested.

Ray smiled and nodded setting his glasses down on the nightstand and grabbing his DS, the two made their way into Ryan’s clean room and onto his much bigger bed. The two easily slotted themselves together under the thick wool comforter. Ryan’s scarred chest pressed against Ray’s back, the two drifted quickly off to sleep. Spent and tired Ray smiles as he drifts off, Ryan pressing a kiss against the back of his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always: Good morning, Stay golden, Here's lookin' at you, and have a wonderful day, night, month, and year!
> 
> Also, is it just me or does James Ryan sound like a discount Jason Bourne and Jack Ryan knockoff? Like they finagled it enough to use Ryan but they couldn't get the rights to use Jason so they changed it to James hoping not to get sued by either company with ownership to the two names. This was something that perplexed me during my drive to class this morning. Sorry, I'm weird as shit.


	5. THE BIRDS, THE BIRDS, IT’S THE BIRDS!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Cow- Edgar Allen. The leader.  
The Sheep- Allyson Ward. The Girlfriend.  
The Chicken- Timon Ward. The girlfriend's brother.  
The Raven- Martin Burke. The Girlfriend's brother's best friend.  
The Pig- Christina 'CC' Cherish. The girlfriend's best friend. Deceased.  
The Duck- Andrew Dunham. The bank-robbing Husband. Deceased.  
The Hamster- Marilyn Dunham. The bank-robbing Wife. Deceased.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another long one! There's a torture scene, but it's not too graphic, at least by my standards. You've been warned, although ive already tagged graphic violence so yall should already know!
> 
> Wow, only two more chapters to go...

Thursday morning was like a dream, Ray woke up to Ryan still laying next to him, sleeping peacefully with a protective arm keeping Ray pressed close. Ray yawned and Reached over to Ryan’s nightstand where the lad kept his DS and booted up the device, intent on playing a game while still in this state of happiness. Ray turned the volume down not wanting to disturb the sleeping man beside him and began happily playing his game. Not even two minutes later, Ray feels the other body shift against him, Ryan letting out a grumble.

“Morning Sunshine,” Ray teased, smiling at the sleepy man.

“Is early,” Ryan sighed audibly before turning noisily in the bed to watch Ray play his game, “Is that Tetris?”

“Fuck yeah it is,” Ray affirms nodding his head.

“Shapes in holes,” Ryan grumbles again before pulling himself out of bed, intent on washing the gross taste out of his mouth.

“Where ya going?” Ray asks confused.

“Mouth feels gross,” Ryan shrugs placing a kiss on Ray's head and walking into their shared bathroom.

“That means I have to get up too,” Ray says shutting his DS in favor of following the elder into the bathroom.

After cleaning their teeth and getting dressed, Ray and Ryan clamor down to the ground floor of the Farmhouse just in time for breakfast.

“Damnit, I just brushed my teeth, now its gonna taste all gross,” Ray rolls his eyes at himself.

“Alright, so I have a plan,” Geoff says, a wild grin splitting his face.

“This one's gonna be good,” Michael jokes, seeing the hyped behavior of the crew leader.

“So far, we’ve just been stumbling into Edgar's crew, rolling with the punches, right? Therefore, we need to bring the fight to him, target his people first, and I have a great idea of who to go after next!” Geoff spoke waving his fork in the air frantically between bites of his cheesy omelet.

“Geoff and I got in contact with this blogger who’s like obsessed with the criminal underground of Los Santos, dudes basically made Edgar, The Vagabond, and even our crew into his own creepypasta story. We’ve been watching him for a while now just to make sure the guy didn’t get any info that could put us in the ground, but we think he’s more of a fanboy than a threat,” Jack continued, mostly informing Ryan, since the rest of the crew already knew about the blogger.

“Alright, so what are we doing with the blogger?” Ryan asks from his seat next to Ray.

“He’s been tracking Edgar since the guy first became a blip on the LS radar, he’s created a pretty accurate timeline of the FAHC run-ins with Edgar and was the first to conclude that we took in The Vagabond, this guy’s like obsessed with us,” Michael says informing Ryan of what he and Gavin had found on the bloggers website.

“So, what’s this guy’s name?” Ryan asks causing Ray and Gavin to share shit-eating grins before laughing.

“Rimmy fucking Tim,” Michael says chocking on his own laughter.

“What kind of fucking name is Rimmy Tim?” Ryan asks judgingly.

“I dunno, but the bloke always has accurate information, so we’re gonna hit him up to see if he knows any of the whereabouts of Edgar's gang,” Gavin supplies after dying down from his own laughter.

The crew continued to joke and laugh with each other for the next hour, Jack slowly cleaning off the table, placing the dishes in the sink to be dealt with later. Gavin and Michael eventually make their way back upstairs to Gavin’s office. Ray and Ryan had been locked in a heated discussion about which brand of bullets are the best for sniper rifles. The two were being watched with a fond smile by their crew leader who had decided he was incredibly happy with his decision to try and recruit The Vagabond, it always worked out in the end.

“Hey, Rye, I- I wanna show you something,” Ray chewed on his lip nervously.

“Okay, show away,” Ryan gestured, his eyes following the young sniper closely.

“Alright, follow me!” Ray jumped out of his seat buzzing with energy, excited with the thought of showing Ryan.

Ryan followed Ray out through the back porch of the Farmhouse, the early morning breeze setting a slight chill to the air. Ray’s eyes sparkled with excitement at every step through the grass, passed the lake, Ray’s hands getting sweaty, through a thick line of trees, Ryan followed the younger until they came across a half-ruined treehouse. The treehouse looked ready to fall apart at any second, but Ray impatiently heaved himself up on the loose wooden ladder, climbing until he came across the flat overlapped layers of plywood that created the deck of the treehouse, Ray pulled himself up and ducked into the creaking tree build building all the while beckoning Ryan to follow. Unsettled by the unsafe seeming treehouse, Ryan carefully climbed the ladder and crawled into the house. It was a simple treehouse, probably used more for deer hunting at the time of its practice. Ryan looked in and smiled, spotting Rays look of enjoyment as he sat up against the far wall of the small building.

“This was the best hideout! Me, Gavin, and Michael would come up here to bullshit whenever Geoff hounded us too much or we just needed a break, Geoff and jack still don’t know it exists,” Ray said, a small smile leading his expression.

“It’s… nice,” Ryan says not believing his words as he takes in the rotten boards that make up the ceiling.

“Psh, no need to lie to me James, this place is a shithole, but it’s always been the lad’s hideaway, no gents allowed type thing Y’know? It was always our place, its sentimental, I think I missed this the most when we moved on to a safehouse closer to the city,” Ray snorted, breathing his sentence with a calmed ease.

Ryan gave a small laugh, his loving smile plastered to his face warmly. The elder of the two roved his eyes over the other, taking in Ray’s calm and peaceful demeanor.

“Why’d you guys ever leave this place if it’s so great?” Ryan asked confused, it seemed that everyone loved it here once they settled in.

“That’s… A story for another day,” Ray frowned, looking away from Ryan’s and down at his lap.

Before Ryan could question any further, his phone rang loud with a message from their fearless leader.

“Geoff says to meet up in the planning room asap,” Ryan frowned.

Ray gave a quick nod, the two of them climbing carefully out of the treehouse and down the ladder. Ray was quiet for the entire walk back to the house, only speaking when prompted. The two quickly made their way into the house and to the planning room.

“Finally, where’d you two even go?” Geoff groaned annoyed and ignored, “Okay, so Gavin’s gotten in contact with our blogger, he’s agreeing to a meeting in a few hours, it’ll be at a café in downtown LS. Now, just in case this guy was bought out by someone, we’ll all be there, I’ll be meeting him, but I’ll need Jack and Michael in the café with me. I would’ve wanted Ryan in there, but the mask isn’t very inconspicuous, so instead, Ryan will be waiting in an alleyway behind the café, ready to go in if anything fishy happens. Ray, you’ll be up on a roof, as usual, poised to shoot this fucker if he tries anything, Gavin will be in the car with a laptop, watching the camera feeds from the parking lot. Before you start bitching, Gav, Michael is ready to go back out, fully vetted by Caleb, so long as he takes it easy, Caleb’s gonna have a look at him today while we’re in town. We good on the plan?” Geoff goes through the plan quickly, not needing to put too much detail since the crew believed the blogger to be mostly harmless.

“Geoff, can we get earbuds like spies?” Gavin asks, trying his best to ignore the worried pit in his stomach.

“We’ll look into it later, bud,” Geoff dismisses causing Gavin to wilt slightly and Michael to roll his eyes at the brit’s actions.

“Alright, let's gear up and load out fuckers,” Geoff announces causing the rest of the crew to stand up simultaneously, all leaving the planning room to gather their equipment.

After the long drive back into the heart of Los Santos, the FAHC had set up, all in position. Geoff walked into the café armed and ready in case this was a setup, he spotted a man in the corner whose eyes snapped up to the gang leader when he entered. Few people knew Geoff’s face, none of the crew having been arrested in the state. This was the guy. Geoff sauntered over and sat down, adjusting his bowtie. The rest of the crew gave him shit for overdressing for heists, but the suits gave Geoff the look of a mob boss and damn was that good for business.

“Holy shit, you’re- you’re him, you’re the leader of…” the guy looked around before leaning in with a whisper, “The Fake AH crew,” he concluded, the guy was jittery and excitable, not the best thing to be when sitting in front of a gang leader of a slowly rising in the ranks crew.

“Buddy, what’cha got for us?” Geoff radiated calm, so much so it seemed to help the blogger come to his senses a bit.

“Right, yeah, uh here,” The blogger leaned down grabbing a thick folder from the inside of his hideously textured backpack, “All the info that the deep web has on The Annihilators,” He quickly handed the file over to Geoff.

“The Annihilators? That’s what they call themselves? Fuckin’ lame as shit,” Geoff snorted at the name.

“You mean, you guys have been killing them off, but you never knew their name?” The blogger asked incredulously.

“Nah, we know their real names, we called them that, not that it matters, they’ll all be dead soon,” Geoff concluded, flipping through the file absently.

“Right, right, woah- Wait- What- Really? Oh, yeah! Speaking of names, uh, my name’s Jeremy,” the blogger introduced himself.

“Well, Jeremy, thank you, and as discussed, here’s your payment. There’ll be more where that came from… Well, as long as you keep yourself useful,” Geoff said cryptically, stood, and then shook the other’s hand, simultaneously slipping a wad of cash into the blogger's bag before turning and walking away.

Jack and Michael easily follow Geoff out, both giving curt nods to the blogger, they had a feeling the guy wouldn’t cross them. Once out, the crew make their way to their vehicles parked a quick distance away, Ray and Ryan joining the others soon after seeing them leave.

“Place was squeaky clean, nobody acting out of character… well except the college student who couldn’t understand pseudocode to save his life, but eh, poor chap’ll figure it out eventually,” Gavin shrugged, rambling as he looks back down to his laptop, “Should we watch Jeremy a little while longer?” Gavin asks.

“Nah, he won’t sell us out,” Geoff shrugs, “We are gonna head over to Caleb’s for a little while and get Michael all checked up, though,” Geoff announced, watching Michael as he put on his seat belt and hid a wince at the pressure to his would.

The crew drove as nicely as a gang would, breaking minimal traffic laws and pissing off only a few other drivers along the way, making their way to an underground doctor who owed them a few favors and would hopefully one day be an exclusive doctor for the entire crew alone. Caleb rolled his eyes at the full ensemble and lead them into his small house from the backdoor where the crew had congregated. Caleb gave a quick assessment of Michael, letting the rest of the crew know he could have the stitches removed as early as next week. Taking this as good news, the crew cheered and went searching the doctor’s home for celebratory alcohol. The celebration was short-lived once the crew remembered they had other business to attend to. Alcohol stashed in the vehicles for later consumption, the crew thanked their doctor and quickly drove away.

“Alright, so our blogger friend has been tracking The Raven ever since he got here in LS. His information shows that The Raven prick will be completing a drug sale tomorrow in Del Perro on the pier, so we’re gonna stop at the gun store and pick up some ammo and then head to one of our closer hideouts for the night,” Geoff spoke while driving towards the closest AmmuNation. He had called Jack so that the full crew could hear his assessment.

“What? Oh, come on, all of our games are back at the Farmhouse,” Ray and the other two lads complained earning eye rolls accompanied by shallow nods from the gents.

“It’s fine we should at least have an Xbox at the safehouse,” Geoff said exasperatedly.

“Don’t bullshit them, Geoff you wouldn’t be able to spend a single day without videogames,” Jack laughs.

“Oh yeah? And how about you not playing trials?” Geoff countered.

Jack and Geoff argued the entire way to the gun store, the rest of the crew being forced to listen. The two gents continued to argue, even from the moment they walk into and out of the gun store. The gents continue to argue over videogames until they reached the safehouse in Downtown LS.

“Alright, this is only a three-bedroom place, so we’ll all be bunking up, not that any of you’ll complain,” Geoff grumbled the last part and stepped out of his car.

Ray and Ryan made easy eye contact as well as Gavin and Michael, both couples smiling at each other. Ryan trailed closely after Ray, following the lad into the small house that had been turned into one of the crews many safehouses within the city limits. Ray and Ryan quickly took over the couch after surveying the rooms and staking a claim on one closest to the back entrance of the house. Ray and Ryan had booted up the Xbox and were joined by the other two lads for a nice friendly round of Call of Duty. Geoff and Jack sat on another couch and watched the lads plus Ryan play until controllers were passed to them. The crew revolved the controllers, letting everyone have chances to play the game until the crew collectively became tired and moved to their respective bedrooms for a full night rest.

The next morning the crew woke up bright and early, at least for their old standards, the gang had recently gotten used to waking up earlier in order to drive back to Los Santos every day from the Farmhouse. The crew ate a light breakfast and began setting up their equipment for their ambush on The Raven, they were all jittery with pre-heist nervousness. Geoff and Jack were going over the plan before delivering it to the rest of the crew, Ryan religiously cleans each one of his guns and knives. Ray assembled and disassembled his rifle, cleaning it as well as taking stock of the ammunition. Gavin was hacking into the pier's security system. Michael was gathering his guns and a few choice explosives that had the fiery lad giddy with the expectation of the boom.

“Alright fuckers! So, here’s the plan; Gav, you’re gonna be our eyes and ears as usual, I bought you a few new toys to play with so you can pretend to be a little spy or whatever the fuck you do,” Geoff brought over a large case and sat it down on the table next to Gavin’s laptop, “Michael, you’re gonna blow something the fuck up, distract the local gang and Edgars men,” Geoff pointed at Michael and the explosives, “Jack is gonna be with the ground team today, he’ll be with me gunning the crews down. Ryan, you’re gonna be our heavy guns, I know that minigun of yours isn’t just for show, so have fun man,” Geoff rolled his eyes at the black painted weapon, why Ryan had brought the minigun for the blogger trip, nobody could tell, “Finally, Ray, you’re gonna be up on the roof of one of the stores on the boardwalk, I know you won’t have any issues with the distance,” Geoff delivered the set up succinctly, “When The Raven shows up, that’s when shit’s gonna hit the fan, alright? Michael will blow up a fucking hotdog stand as a distraction once I give the signal, Ray will blow The Ravens fucking mask off, and me, jack, and Ryan will clean house, after that, we’ll all go for bevs at the rainbow bar in South Los Santos. The only thing we need to do is get some wheels for this. Good?” Geoff asks receiving nods of acknowledgment and understanding of the plan.

The information that Jeremy had given them told the crew that The Raven’s drug deal would occur later that night, giving the gang plenty of time to set up on the pier. Ray and Ryan had disappeared quickly, both going out looking for vehicles for themselves. Michael and Gavin leaving as well to pick up Michael's car from the safehouse in South Los Santos where the crew had originally stayed. Jack and Geoff planned on taking Geoff’s Sedan.

Ray wandered the streets before spotting a bar with several motorcycles parked outside. Smiling, Ray quickly snagged one and road it back to the safehouse, parking it in the backyard to hide from the owner if they ever came looking for it. Ray had returned just in time to spot Ryan on a fucking dark gray Shitzu Hakuchou, making Ray’s stolen Principe Nemesis look like an electric scooter. A whistle of praise was given by Geoff and Jack who watched as the two rides in on their bikes. A deep growl of a supped-up engine as a sleek white Mainatsu Penumbra pulled up with Michael and Gavin inside.

“Okay, maybe I should go get my car,” Geoff grumbled seeing the nice vehicles put his inconspicuous sedan to shame.

“Yeah, go get the Lampadati,” Jack suggested, watching as Michael expertly parked the sports car in the long driveway.

“Jealous bitches?” Michael smirked stepping out of the sports car and leaning against the door.

“No.”

“Yes.”

Geoff and Jack shared looks before bursting out in laughter.

“Alright fuckwads, let's get a move on and start setting up on the pier,” Geoff announced as he walked towards his shitty sedan that had become the crew’s family car over the last few weeks.

“Llllllllllllllllets heist!” Ray yelled suddenly, running inside to grab his rifle and sling the case’ straps over his shoulder.

The rest of the crew gathered their weapons and headed out to the pier, stashing their vehicles in various locations. Ray rode his bike to a newer mask store that sat on the boardwalk not far from the pier itself, He stashed his bike in the alleyway in between the shops and quickly found a ladder to pull himself on top of the small building. The sniper laid on the roof and began setting up his favored rifle. Ryan hid under the pier, the mask sticking to his face with the heat of the day, the shade from the pier giving The Vagabond a break from the sun. Geoff and Jack walked the pier pretending to just be two normal civilians on a day out. Michael walked along the pier towards the farthest edge, a black duffel bag hanging off of his shoulder holding the explosives. They had several hours before The Raven and the other local gang would meet on the pier. A whirring noise startled Michael, causing the demolitions expert to look up in surprise.

“Geoff, why the fuck did you have to buy Gavin that thing?” The lad vocalized his annoyance as he watched an expensive surveillance drone flying over his head and down the pier.

Gavin was hiding behind Michael's tinted windows, the brit staying in the car with his laptop propped on the dashboard, the controller rig sitting heavy in Gavin’s hands as he flew the device over to get a view of Ray, the sniper flipping the bird off. It didn’t take long for the sun to sink and sunset to fall upon the pier, casting the few remaining citizens in a hazy glow, a perfect view if one were a photographer.

Everything was perfect, the crew in their element. So how did this heist go so horribly wrong?

The Raven had shown up, but not with ten guys, with twenty at least. The other local gang had apparently planned on skimping The Raven, but the FAHC had yet to discover this fact. The Raven stayed on the opposite end of the pier causing Ray to not have any view of the bird masked wearing individual. Michael’s bomb went off early, tripped by some dumbass civilian who thought they should play with a random device they found on the bottom of a hotdog cart, Michael had tried to get the man away from the bomb but was unsuccessful in his endeavor. Geoff and Jack had rushed in guns blazing and were met with just about forty men pointing guns at them. Ryan had managed to carve out a large chunk of hired goons and gang members but was shot in the arm. Jack was hit twice in the side, more grazes than anything. Geoff had somehow lost his gun and was in a fistfight with a random ganger. The ganger who was attacking Geoff had his head quickly blown away, the high caliber round forcing the ganger to jerk to the side and slump down, dead before he even hit the ground. Geoff, Jack, Michael, And Ryan were quickly overrun and had begun to retreat after Ryan’s minigun jammed. Ray picked off as many enemies as he could, never once getting a clear view of The Raven, almost as if the man knew where Ray was holed up. That thought was never confirmed thought.

The police had also quickly shown up to crash the party, causing the mayhem to scatter even more. Eventually, the FAHC were all able to get to their vehicles, the cops chasing after Michael's obvious sportscar. Michael had given chase all the way over to East Los Santos, losing the cops in tunnels under the city. Ray had simply driven normally, not having been approached by any law enforcement. Ryan had zoomed away, the LSPD giving close chase until he zipped through an alleyway and lost the cops in a residential district overrun by biker gangs, an easy escape for the mercenary known as The Mad King. Geoff and Jack had tried their best to lose the police, not able to do so in the slow sedan, reluctantly Geoff and jack abandoned the car, rigging the accelerator to keep the car going and running the fondly revered vehicle off the edge of a dock and into the water in order to destroy any evidence. Geoff and Jack then went ahead on foot, losing the police in the crowd of panicked citizens.

All members of the crew made it back to the Downtown LS safehouse all at varying times. Geoff and Jack were the last to get back, Ray the first, and the other three had made it back around the same time. The crew leader was met with an image that annoyed the hell out of him; Michael was cleaning a cut on Gavin’s head, Michael himself had a litter of bruises on his face and looked like he might have ripped his stitches at one point, red seeped through his shirt. Ryan was sewing up a bullet wound in his shoulder, holding the thread with his teeth, his mask sitting on the coffee table. Ray was laying on the couch, his DS in his hand and not a scratch on him.

“How the fuck did this happen, Ray, why didn’t you take the fucking shot?” Geoff was mad, like super fucking livid.

“What? Did you see my position? I didn’t have a shot,” Ray sat up shaking his head at Geoff who stomped over to the lad, “I was picking off guys left and fucking right, saving your asses might I add,” Ray said disbelievingly at the accusation.

“Oh, don’t give me that horseshit, why didn’t you change position then, huh?” Geoff asked angrily, he was heavily bruised from the fistfight he was in and taking it out on the one member who didn’t seem in some sort of disarray.

Even Gavin had gotten banged up, being thrown into the side of the car when Michael had to commit to a rather sharp turn whilst evading the police.

“It’s not my fault you didn’t plan for the number of people we had to deal with!” Ray shot back feeling his face heat with anger as he stood up from the couch.

“My plan? If you have an issue with my planning then you have an issue with Jack's plan, and maybe if you think you can do so much better, plan your own goddamn heists from now on!” Geoff was spitting from the force in which he spoke, pointing dramatically at Ray and then the door, “It’s not like you wanna stick around anyway!” Geoff finished after watching Ray roll his eyes and turn away, grabbing at the case that held his prized sniper, “They probably saw you on the fucking roof a mile away with that thing,” Geoff announced angrily pointing at the case which held Rays most valuable and prized possession, his bright pink sniper rifle.

“I don’t need this shit,” Ray grabbed his sniper and stomped out of the safe house. The lad walked over to his bike ignoring the yells of his name from Michael, Gavin, and Ryan.

Jack had gone to the kitchen to grab the other medical kit they had hidden away, missing the conversation except for bits and pieces.

“What the fuck just happened? Where is Ray?” Jack asked, holding onto the medical kit, “He’s the only one with steady enough hands,” Jack commented to himself, looking down at his wounds knowing it’d do more harm than good for him to try and fix himself up on his own.

“Dunno, kid fucking left,” Geoff shrugged walking passed Jack and into the kitchen.

“What just happened?” Jack asked the others with wide eyes as he listened to the sound of an engine revving up and the squeal of tires racing away.

“Geoff just went mental on X-Ray,” Gavin answered Jack's question, feeling stupefied at the leader’s actions and words.

“Yeah, honestly, I’m surprised Ray didn’t fucking punch him or something, I’ve never seen either of them get that angry at each other,” Michael spoke, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Geoff’s just pissy because we lost his car, which means we lost everything in his car,” Jack sighed setting down the emergency kit and looking over at Ryan who was uncharacteristically silent when faced with Ray being yelled at.

“I’ll go hunt him down, Gavin can you tell me where he is right now?” Ryan asked, sighing at the actions of the crew.

“Uh, it’d be a bit difficult to do that when his phone’s sitting right there,” Gavin said, pointing at the device which was indeed Ray’s purple cased phone which now sat abandoned on the coffee table.

“Shit,” Ryan cursed obviously looking a bit more panicked.

“He’ll be back,” Geoff’s voice rang out from where he was standing in the hallway behind Jack, “He always comes back,” Geoff’s voice was slightly muffled by the worsening swelling in his bottom lip, but it was obvious the gent was regretful already of his words.

Ray drove through Los Santos, riding from Downtown into Vinewood Hills. The lad rode the bike to a deserted park near the Vinewood sign and stopped, the sniper propped the bike up against a bench and sat down to curl up into himself. The frosty night sending a chill down the lad’s spine. Ray eventually pulled out the DS that he’d brought with him and sat his gun case down next to him on the bench, the lad then went ahead to play a super Mario bro’s game, wanting to drown out the incessant noise in the back of his head. Ray was so focused on the game and ignoring his brain he missed the sound of a car slowing down to a stop a few feet away from him. The usually perceptive sniper jumped, feeling a man’s hand on his shoulder.

“Woah, sorry dude,” A pretty hazel-eyed stranger smiled awkwardly at the lad.

“Nah man, you’re fine, I wasn’t paying attention,” Ray shrugged, pausing his game, and snapping the DS closed, “Did you need something?” Ray asked, something about the man was eerily familiar.

“I was just making sure you were okay, doing my citizen’s duty or whatever the fuck they try and shove down our throats,” The man joked.

“Right,” Ray looked the man up and down, unable to place where he’d seen him before.

“My name’s Tim… do you need some sort of help?” The man looked and sounded genuinely concerned, causing Ray to sigh, releasing a bit of tension.

“Nah I’m fine, just a little fight with a friend,” Ray nodded awkwardly, putting the DS in his pocket.

“Ah, yeah, I know plenty about that, trust me,” He smiles charmingly, “Ray, why don’t we get out of this place? It’s cold outside,” Tim said with a warm smile.

“Wait… how do you know my name?” Ray asked before feeling someone grab him from behind the bench, a black-clothed bag being thrown over his head.

Ray struggled until he felt the cold barrel of a gun press against the back of his head.

“We’re gonna have a chat Ray,” The voice of Tim who Ray quickly recognized as Timon Ward, a member of Edgar's gang, was still eerily warm and considerate.

Ray yanked his hand away from the unknown assailant and flipped him off before feeling a blunt force knock into the side of his head.

Ray came to in a dingy cold dark room. The room, Ray realized, wasn’t actually a room, it was more of an empty warehouse. _What was with these guys and warehouses?_

“What’s with you douche nozzles and giant fucking warehouses,” Ray slurred, unconsciousness edging out of his mind.

“Aha! He’s awake! Damn kid, you can really take a hit,” A man who Ray recognized as Martin Burke, The Raven, was leaning over staring Ray in the face, a large smile covering his lips.

“I’m not a kid,” Ray looked up, rocked his head back and then forward, then smashed his head into Martins. Martin jumped back witch a scowl and a yelp.

“Fucking shit, you stupid piece of fuckling shit, you are gonna be so fucking sorry for that,” Burke yelled gesturing with a clean silver pistol.

“Cool it, Marty,” Tim spoke with a roll of his eyes, making his presence a few feet away known.

Ray sucked in a breath, seeing his rifle assembled and sitting next to its case on top of a cart. The cart also held various knives and a small blowtorch. Ray sat up straighter, pulling on his bindings, his hands bound tight with several layers of thin rope tied together practically in a fucking bow if only if it were a bow Ray’d be able to pull it apart easily.

“Hey, Ray? Why’d you choose pink? It was such an obnoxious color, we could see you when we drove up to the pier,” Tim asked, running his figures over the large rifle.

“Don’t fucking touch my shit bro,” Ray said automatically, earning a punch to the gut that doubled him over from Martin Burke.

“We’ll touch what the fuck we want to touch bitch,” Martin whispered in Ray's ear.

“Sorry about him, Marty gets a bit excited about this sort of thing,” Tim says gesturing to the cart, “I just had a few questions for you, figured I’d ask nicely first. Where’s the Vagabond? That’s all we want to know,” Tim smiled looking down at the young sniper.

“Go fuck yourself,” Ray says to Tim and spits at Martin's shoes.

Tim sighs and nods to martin, martin smiled largely at Ray and punched the lad in the cheek, knocking Rays head to the side.

“Where. Is. The. Vagabond?” Tim repeated.

“Go. Fuck. Your. Self,” Ray gritted his teeth through the pain of the next punch.

“I’m really trying to be nice to you here, Edgar would love to have a small chat with the famed Mad King,” Tim sighed again.

“Tell him to send a postcard,” Ray quipped.

Another punch. Ray could taste blood, he bit his lip.

“All you need to do is tell us what we want to know.”

“What is this a bad action-comedy?” Ray asked smiling through bloody teeth.

Another punch, this time to his stomach. Tim looks at him expectantly and Ray just shrugs. This time earning a harsh hit across the face from the pistol that Martin held. Tim walked over holding a clean silver knife, handing it to Martin with a soft smile as if he weren’t committing softcore torture.

“Woah, Woah there budo what do you think you’re doing with that thing?” Ray asked feeling his chest squeeze with apprehension. With fear.

“You wanna tell us where the Vagabond is?” Tim asked causing Martin to pause.

“Not particularly,” Ray shrugs.

“In that case, Marty here is about to cut you, just a little,” Tim kept that same easygoing smile on his face, the fucking psychopath.

Martin walked forward and took the knife to Rays hoodie and then shirt, ripping the fabric with ease.

“Sorry I don’t put out on the first date,” Ray commented.

Martin Shoved the knife into Ray’s thigh suddenly, the lad crying out in pain. Having braced to feel a cut along his chest, Ray was unready for the hot white flash of pain that was now radiating through his leg.

“Fuck!” Ray cried out, tilting his head back and squeezing his eyes shut.

“It would be so much easier to just tell us what we want to know,” Tim looked at Ray with concern that the sniper knew to be false.

“Eat,” Ray paused swallowing the pain, “A fucking dick,” Ray breathed heavily trying to will away the pain.

“How sad, we’ll continue this later on, I have more important business to attend to than entertaining a teenager,” Tim said getting Martin's attention.

The two members of Edgar’s inner circle walked away, Martin leaving the knife in Ray's thigh. Ray had no sense of time; the warehouse had no windows and when the doors opened it seemed there was another room on the other side. Guards came in to check on him, different guards every time and at random intervals. The only reason Ray even knew that time had passed was because of the growing sense of hunger that was slowly working its way through his stomach.

Ray didn’t know when, but at some point, the lad had fallen asleep in his chair only to be woken up by the sound of wheels squeaking.

“Ray, welcome back to the land of the conscious, I was surprised to see you asleep,” Tim mentioned.

“What time is it?” Ray asks abruptly.

“Why? Got a hot date?” Tim teased with a smirk much like he was teasing a friend, every interaction with Tim threw Ray for a whole ass loop, he was honestly relieved to see Martin scowling at him like usual, “Ouch, that knife is still there,” Tim commented.

Martin walked forward and ripped the knife out of the would making sure to yank it in different directions causing Ray to cry out in pain.

“That’s better. Have you thought about our talk from before?” Tim asked picking up a particularly nasty looking blade.

“Which part?” Ray snarked.

“Tisk, tisk,” Tim shook his head, “You know where the Vagabond is, tell us,” He announced.

“Why do you think I know where he is? The dude goes wherever he wants to,” Ray lies smoothly.

“Because you two are kind of a thing now, aren’t you?” Tim asks, using the fine point of the tip of the blade to pick dirt out from under his nails.

“What?” Rays blood ran cold, how could they have possibly known that?

“I know, I know I’m surprisingly well informed. I have a good friend who works at an AmmuNation in Downtown Los Santos who showed me the recordings of an interesting bunch who came in to buy quite an alarming amount of ammunition. You two seemed remarkably close,” Tim mentioned.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about dude, maybe you need to relax a little, it’ll help your brain start working,” Ray snarked.

“Oh, I’m plenty relaxed. You, on the other hand, are very tense, Ray, why is that?” Tim asks.

“I dunno, prolly has something to do with a knife that was in my leg, thanks for taking it out buddy,” Ray glared at Martin who stepped forward.

“You’ve got spunk, I respect that,” Tim states.

Martin walks over to Tim, taking the knife from the other and walking over to Ray.

“Don’t worry kid, this is gonna hurt you, much worse than it’s gonna hurt me,” Martin gave Ray an ugly smile before slashing the curved blade across Ray's chest.

“Ah! Shhh-hit,” Ray screwed his eyes shut trying to block out the pain.

“If you don’t talk soon, I’m going to have to use the torch, Ray, do you understand that?” Tim said, his tone making him sound like a disappointed friend.

“You don’t, have to,” Ray comments.

“Yes Ray, yes I do,” Tim sighs.

Martin cuts Ray again, slower this time. The questioning went on like that for a while before Ray heard the sound of the torch lighting up, he whipped his head over to look at Tim feeling slightly dizzy as he did so. Tim walked forward bringing the blow torch close to Ray's face before the lad yelled.

“Wait! Wait! I-I’ll talk, I’ll talk,” Ray swallowed nervously, letting the fear bring as few tears to his eyes, “He’s at one of my crew's safehouses,” Ray says reluctantly feeling guilty about letting the safehouse go.

“Good, good, see what happens when you cooperate?” Tim shuts off the blow torch and walks it back over to the cart.

“Where’s the safe house?” Tim asked calmly.

“It’s in Blocklot City, 1221 Kirkland Avenue,” Ray mumbled looking down and focusing on the blood that was seeping through his jeans.

“Perfect, I’ll be back Ray,” Tim and martin walk away somewhere behind Ray, exiting the warehouse.

“Fuck!” Ray screamed at the vast expanse of nothingness.

Ray couldn’t tell how long it took the two members of Edgar’s gang to get back, but they had, they were pissed. Tim walked around Ray without even greeting him.

“Y’know Ray, I was really trying to be nice to you, I like you, you’ve got somethin’ with you,” Tim shook his head.

“They weren’t there? Guess they dipped. Oops,” Ray smiled earning a hard punch to the face.

“Ray I was trying to ask nicely, you disappoint me,” Tim frowned.

Another hit.

Back in the safehouse in Downtown Los Santos, the crew was all running around trying to figure out where their sniper had run off to.

“Uh, Geoffrey? Come see this!” Gavin had jumped at the alert he was given, someone had broken into a nearby safe house.

Geoff came over, sitting next to Gavin and viewing the screen.

“Shit! How’d they know about the safehouse?” Geoff looked taken aback by the view of a chicken mask and a raven mask breaking into the safehouse with about fourteen other guys.

“It’s impossible, we haven’t used that safe house in months, the only person who’s recently used it is… Ray! What if this is a message and he was kidnapped!” Gavin yelled gaining the attention of the other crewmembers.

“It’s been three days, why would Ray send them there now?” Michael asked, hoping the answer wasn’t what he was thinking of.

In the recording, Geoff and Gavin watched as Edgar's gang tore apart the safehouse eventually one of the masked men pointed out the camera and the chicken masked man reached into his back pocket, taking out a small notepad and writing a number down on it, shoving the paper into the view of the camera.

“Freeze it, freeze it, write down that number, Gavin when did this happen?” Geoff commanded.

“Uh… About two hours ago. Why?” Gavin asked confused, pausing the security footage and grabbed a random piece of paper that sat near the brit

“Because if Ray is being held captive, they’re gonna be very pissed that he gave them a fake address,” Geoff said, grabbing out his phone and punching in the number. Geoff places the device on the table and had the phone on speaker so that the whole crew could hear.

“Hello?” A strong voice that the crew didn’t recognize replied.

Back at the warehouse, Ray was getting sick and tired of the half-assed torture, his face undeniably swollen to all hell from countless punches and pistol whips. The hits were only stopped by the sound of that stupid whistle notification.

“Hello?” Tim asked after picking up the call, “Oh, Ramsey, how nice to finally speak with you, yes your sniper is here with me, no I don’t think so, he’s a bit indisposed at the moment,” Tim smirked.

“You motherfucker,” Geoff’s voice was loud, Ray being able to hear it even where he sat.

“Y’know Ramsey, we could make a trade, the Vagabond for your little sniper here,” Tim sneered at Ray.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Ray screamed only to have a piece of cloth shoved into his mouth by Martin.

“Oh, he doesn’t like that,” Tim smiled, “If you agree, no further harm will come to him. Oh? Well, I mean, he’ll live,” Tim said the last part after looking Ray over a bit, “Good! Finally, someone with sense, alright, we’ll be waiting. I’ll text this number the address, Perfect,” Tim quickly hit the end call button and watched Ray crumble.

Ray couldn’t believe Geoff just agreed to that deal, the man had to be planning something, no fucking way. Ray felt tears sting his eyes at the thought of Geoff handing over Ryan.

“Don’t worry Ray, it’ll all be over soon,” Tim smiled sadly at the sniper who looked up with rage-filled eyes.

“You hurt a fucking hair on his head I will fucking kill you!” Ray screamed, struggling against the ropes that held him firmly to the chair.

“Unfortunately, I’m going to have to hurt more than just a hair on the Vagabond, Ray,” Tim sighed and left the warehouse with martin once again.

“Ryan what the fuck, we can’t just hand you over!” Gavin yelled.

During the phone conversation, Ryan wrote on the paper for Geoff to tell them that he’ll hand over the Vagabond as long as Ray is left unharmed.

“I don’t plan on being with them for long,” Ryan had a dangerous look to his eyes.

“Alright big guy, what’s the plan?” Geoff asked Ryan, the rest of the crew looking over at the man.

“You hand me over to them, but not until we know for sure that Ray is safe, Gavin can put a tracker on me, and you’ll all follow wherever they take me, then we fucking eviscerate Edgar's gang,” Ryan told.

“Just like that?” Jack asks.

“Good enough for me,” Michael announces, feeling a fury of his own at the thought of Ray being hurt.

“We’re going to get him back, right boi?” Gavin asked, fearfully.

“Yeah, we’ll get him back,” Michael nodded, a definite expression flooding his face, “And we’ll raise hell doin’ it too, he’d do the same for us,” Michael continued nodding, a grim expression to his face.

“Wakey, wakey, kid, I’s time t’ get ready, were gettin’ us a Vagabond today,” Martin yelled and smiled widely, a southern accent just now appearing. The accent was different from the slight accent dripping with honey that Ryan gets when he’s feeling hot and bothered, no this one is like an ‘I fuhckehd cussy J up in the moutins’ yerday.’ Ray decided it was gross and he never wanted to hear Marin speak ever again.

“Hurt him and I promise you, you’ll be begging to die,” Ray threatened, earning another punch to the face.

“Martin,” Tim says disapprovingly, “He’s to be unharmed from now on, remember?” Tim reminded Martin with an eye roll, “Now, Ray, I won’t be able to stop Marty here if you keep mouthing at us, okay?” Tim and Martin both grabbed their respective animal masks and slipped them on, the large latex masks making Ray grimace. Tim pulled on his chicken mask, and Martin his Raven mask. Suddenly that black-clothed mask from earlier was wrenched over his head and he felt somebody grab him.

“If you even dare to try and run away, your entire crew is gonna get decimated,” Someone to Ray’s left whispered harshly in his ear before Ray felt the bindings being untied and retied once he was out of the chair. Ray could hear laughter, like somebody told a funny joke.

Ray was forced to stand wincing at every bit of pressure on his injured legs, the old injury couple with the new ones almost made standing completely unbearable no matter how he stood. Ray listened to several boots stepping along the floor and he’s suddenly thrown onto the ground, “Oops, sorry,” Ray doesn’t think whoever did that was at all sorry. The lad blinked away the involuntary tears that spilled from his eyes at the pain. At some point he was yanked back into a standing position, he could hear things moving, metal scraping. They were rearranging the sparse interior, bringing things in and out. Ray listened to the sound of the cart of torture knives pass him but never leave the room. His gun was on that cart.

It felt like hours to the young lad, standing on two injured legs almost falling at anything that bumped into him, people walking around him and switching out who held the sniper up. Ray listened, he listened as hard as he could to get an image of how they’d rearranged the warehouse, possible covers that were brought in. Ray could hear guns being loaded. Ray could hear a lot of guns being loaded. Ray couldn’t exactly tell just how many people were now in the warehouse, but there was definitely a crowd. _God fucking damnit this isn’t right… This… This isn’t just an ambush... This is a firing squad_. Ray could pick out bits of hushed conversation, his eyes wide behind the blacked-out mask over his face, they were discussing something Ray thought to be completely unthinkable.

“Who wants to shoot Ramsey?” Ray sucked in a harsh breath, “I call the explosives guy.” Ray couldn’t believe what he was hearing, these people weren’t subtle at all. “Shit man I’ll get Ramsey.” Ray felt bile rise in his throat, “I’ll get Ramsey, you get Pattillo.” The sniper could feel panic washing over him, “We’ll sack the rookie with the foreigner… We need to keep the Vagabond alive until Edgar gets here though.” Ray felt the sickness and fear die out with lightning speed, all Ray could feel was pure rage. These people weren’t going to hurt his crew. He’d make fucking sure of that.

“Ramsey and his gang of misfits should be here in twenty minutes,” Tim’s loud voice was loud by proximity, the mask not muffling it all too much, “Let’s get a move on here! Ray I know I’ve said this a few times, but I really am sorry for what’s going to happen,” Tim spoke with an obvious smile to his voice, “It’s gonna be like a surprise party, you right over here all wrapped up just like a perfect little present for the Fake AH crew and your boy toy, the crew is just collateral damage at this point, but we might keep you to play with later, I loved hearing you scream,” Tim had stepped closer, this obvious by the sound of his voice.

“Oh yeah? Well I’m, a biter so, watch the fuck out,” Ray quips, his voice stoic.

“Let’s get a gag in that pretty mouth of his,” Tim turned away and did just that, shoving another heavy cloth into his mouth just like before, “That’s better. Alright, places everybody, this is gonna be a good show.” Ray listened as Tim walked away.

Somebody shoves Ray down onto his knees harshly, Ray’s cry of pain muffled by the thick cotton cloth that had been shoved into his mouth. A dizzying wave of pain tore through Ray like lightning, for a second the sniper was fearful that he’d pass out, but he knew he couldn’t, he needed to stay awake long enough to warn the crew, save Ryan, and fucking murder Tim and Martin. He couldn’t be weak, not right now, not while the lives of his friends are hanging over a fucking bottomless ravine.

“It’s a trap,” Michael sighed, laying on his stomach against the warm ground, holding a black pair of binoculars.

“How you figure?” Geoff asks calmly.

“Could be the thirty guys I just saw go in, but it could also be the fact that it’s Edgar's crew and their just untrustworthy,” Michael says, weighing the two pieces of information.

“Alright yeah, we expected this, though right?” Jack asked, turning to the Vagabond.

“Yeah, they want me they can fucking have me, your only jobs right now are to locate Ray and extract him, then we can worry about everything else,” Ryan says coldly.

“Bugger me Ry, you need to relax, Ray’ll be fine,” Gavin spoke, the crew knew he was saying it for more of his own benefit than Ryan’s, but nobody dared to call Gavin out on that.

“Alright, let’s go, ten minutes early and pissed off to boot,” Geoff said with a strained smile.

Geoff, Jack, and Ryan walked calmly towards the main entrance of the warehouse, Geoff and Jack with their guns pointed at Ryan but the safety still on. The rest of the crew, i.e. Michael and Gavin, flanked the warehouse, stealthily walking towards the back entrance. The crew had used Jeremy to acquire the blueprints to the warehouse, not giving away any information about their crews upset. But Jeremy could see from the bruising of Geoff’s face that he needed to get the blueprints sooner rather than later.

“It’s quiet,” Geoff commented in a whisper as he walked through the small entrance room and into the larger expanse of the windowless warehouse.

“Too quiet,” Jack nods in agreement.

The three gents pause at the figure that knelt in the center of the warehouse, gasps made evident once the gents laid eyes on the ripped apart hoodie and shirt, the cuts and bruises that littered the figure's chest, that’s when they notice the blood seeped through the dark blue jeans and the blood speckled checkered vans.

“Shit,” Geoff curses and rushes forward, but before he could get a hand on Ray, two men stepped out of the shadows. One of the men wore a chicken mask, the other a raven mask. Both were holding semi-automatic rifles.

“I wouldn’t do that Ramsey, not yet, you’ll get your sniper back, but first we want the Vagabond,” The chicken masked man, Tim, spoke clearly.

“No, that’s not how this is gonna go,” Ryan growls, stepping forward.

The three gents watch at who they assume is Ray perks his head up at the sounds of their voices. Ray moved his head around frantically before tilting to the left, thankfully, the three gents got the memo. Four armed men with equally as deadly guns jump out from where Ray had tilted his head, causing the three gents to jump back and take cover behind a stack of crates. Gunshots can be heard but not from the room that everybody was in, Geoff and Jack share a look and burst out from their cover, firing into the group of four men, “Ray get down!” Geoff yelled over the bang of the guns.

Ray slammed himself down flat onto the concrete, wincing at the pain. He slowly edged himself closer to where he knew the men had rolled in cover. Ray using the only senses he had left slowly maneuvered the large space, ignoring the countless yells at him to stay put from either side of the fight. Ray fought through the pain and basically, army low crawled over to where he knew the cart was. His hands were still bound so it took several minutes before he reached the knife covered cart.

Michael and Gavin had by now burst through the back entrance and began their assault on the main warehouse. Tim, Martin, and their hired goons were surrounded, but the FAHC were outnumbered. Michael laughed maniacally and tossed a grenade into a group of hired guns, some of them escape the blast but others get caught in it. Normal hand grenades aren’t as explosive as cheesy action movies pretend they are, but the modified grenades that Michael had bought with excitement? Those left the bodies of the hired guns who were caught, burnt, and torn to pieces. Leveling the playing field, a bit in the FAHC’s favor.

Ray had managed to knock himself into the cart, sending knives and his gun to the floor with a loud clan. Ray gripped a knife, ignoring the cuts to his hands as he fiddled with the blade, pushing it against his bindings until the thin rope was cut apart. Ray yanked his hands to the front of his face, reveling in the burn to his aching shoulders, Ray ripped off the hood and spat out the cloth just in time to grab his rifle and literally roll across the floor behind a bit of cover. The lad checked his gun, it was loaded. Ray watched with horror as Ryan gets shot in the chest and collapses back against a wall. Geoff’s face looked worse than it did the last time Ray had seen him, Jack looked equally as battered.

“I dunno if we can make it through this,” Gavin swallowed the fear, looking to his explosive lover.

“Gavin, shut the fuck up, everything will be fine, I promise,” Ray listened as Michael tried his best to placate the other's fears.

“Fuck it,” Ray mumbled to himself. The sniper stood in the middle of the hail of gunfire, turned his weapon, aimed his sights, and shot Martin through his left knee, then his right knee. People had stopped shooting to marvel at the image of Ray, this scrawny Puerto Rican kid with a pink rifle almost as large as he was, walking through hell and high water all the while shooting the two animal masked individuals through every joint he could remember existed, “I fucking told you, if you hurt him I would make you beg for death,” Ray stated through gritted teeth as he stared down at the masked men.

The other members of the FAHC decided now was a perfect time to finish off the rest of the hired goons, some surrendered and left with promises to never return to Los Santos, others had to be eliminated. After the quick rinsing bloodshed, the FAHC members sat in the warehouse tired and out of breath.

“That was fucking cool as shit dude,” Michael smiled at Ray, but the smile turned when he watched the sniper stumble.

“I think- I think I’m gonna pass ou-,” Ray had dropped his prized rifle and began to fall graciously. Ryan caught him with a grunt of pain, the bruises on his chest from where bullets hit his vest ever prominent.

“We should get him to Caleb,” Geoff says looking over at the others.

Ryan picks Ray up, bridal style and carries him out to the vehicles the crew stashed for their getaway, Gavin had brought out Rays gun and case to be disassembled and placed on the floor of the car.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Ray woke up to the most annoying alarm clock in the fucking world. Turns out the alarm clock was his heart beeping on a portable monitor in an unfamiliar un sterile room.

“Hey, Ray you up? Holy shit man let me go grab Caleb,” Michael's voice brought Ray’s groggy mind to struggle focus where the other lad had disappeared.

“Ray? It’s me, Caleb, can you hear me?” Ray gave a shallow nod, his throat feeling like he swallowed a razor blade, “Vitals are stable, eyes are dilating normally,” Ray listened to Caleb mutter, a bright light being shown into his eyes at one point.

“Hey buddy,” Ray opened his eyes again to see a blurry figure that Ray had assumed was Geoff.

“H-ey,” Ray croaked, barely able to speak, “Ry-an?”

“Ryan’s in the other room, only two visitors at a time, Caleb thinks we’ll crowd you,” Geoff’s eye roll is clear in his tone. Ray gave a shallow breathy laugh in response to Geoff’s words, “I uh, I wanted to speak with you alone,” Oh no, Geoff sounded guilty.

“Shu- Paper, glasses,” Ray motioned to Geoff tiredly, his voice cracking at each attempted syllable.

Geoff scrambled to grab Ray’s glasses and place them on his face, Michael had apparently come back into the room at some point because next thing Ray knows Michaels shoving a note pad and pen into his hands and stepping off to the side.

‘Shut the fuck up bitch’ Ray wrote in scrawling letters onto the notepad.

“Ray let me apologize,” Geoff sighed.

‘No. I know why you were mad you’re a dick. It’s cool tho I'm an asshole too’ Ray rolled his eyes at the obvious laugh Michael gives, reading the note aloud over Geoff’s shoulder.

“Ray, I blew up on you and was an unfair asshole prick. I’m sorry,” Geoff says before Ray can take back the notepad.

‘Did yall fuckers grab my baby?’

“Yes, Ray, your precious rifle is safe, Gavin brought it back, it’s in the car,” Geoff huffed a bit of laughter.

“Dude you should have seen it, Gavin almost wouldn’t let the fucking gun go; But X-Ray will want it when he wakes up, oooh I’m a dumb British prick,” Michael mimics using a terrible fake British accent.

“I do not sound like that!” A muffled squawk came from behind the door. Michael just laughs.

“He should be fine, though I’m curious where the older bullet wound is from and why you never brought him here for that,” Caleb snarked to Geoff disapprovingly.

“We uh didn’t think it was that bad,” Geoff said sheepishly.

“It looks like it was healing well, but it was ripped open. Ray will be fine, he lost a bit more blood than I would care for, but he should make a full recovery,” Caleb had to pause for the crew to be done cheering, “But no strenuous activities until I say you’re good to go,” Caleb points at Ray sternly earning a thumbs up for his troubles.

“When can we move him back to our safe house?” Geoff asks hopefully.

“As long as you’re all very careful, and he is either in a chair or on crutches, two days, as long as everything continues to heal well,” The underground doctor informs.

“What do I owe ya?” Geoff asks suddenly remembering he needs to pay the said doctor.

“More medical equipment if this shits gonna continue, I’m low,” The doctor rolled his eyes at the cheers from the crew.

“Time to rob a hospital?” Michael asks expectantly.

“We should steal an ambulance… or two,” Ryan comments opening the door much to Caleb’s dismay.

“Alright, alright, get out, let Ray sleep,” The doctor scolds the crew members, “I'd prefer it if only one of you stayed here, you people take up all of my spare room,” Caleb grumbles.

Michael gives a two-figure salute to Caleb, then a smile to Ray and steps out of the now crowded room, followed by the other members of the gang. Ryan stays, however, refusing to leave Ray's side for the next few days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As per the use, thank you all for reading!
> 
> I finally got my girlfriend to read this! The first thing she sent me after reading this was: "Mr. Free I don't feel so good" - Michael after getting shot. (Referring to when he was first shot in the second chapter by The Duck)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all so much for giving me a read. Please leave me a comment and kudos!


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